Jerry Moss, the REAL whine-maker

[FenceBored]

Jerry Moss likes to say that Zenyatta was beaten by proxy. But, this is not true. Zenyatta lost HOY due to the unimaginative, and ultimately weak campaign, arranged by ... whom?

I bring this up again because of a column by Dan Lieberman at the Bloodhorse, Breeders' Cup not a World Championship, which highlights one of Mr. Moss's mistakes, namely believing the hype that the BC is "like the Super Bowl" of horseracing. It's not.

You cannot compare Thoroughbred racing to other sports. In baseball, football, basketball, etc., the league office determines the schedule. It tells teams when to play, and where. Teams can’t decide to skip a game or pass the playoffs. In racing, the owner and trainer decide a horse’s schedule.
-- http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/wgoh/archive/2010/01/27/breeders-cup-not-a-world-championship.aspx

This is one of the strengths of horseracing, one that demonstrates its continuing existence as a true athletic competition (with associated mental competition from the spectators via paramutuel wagering), the myriad of separate owners each striving with their horses to accomplish the goals they have created for themselves, not just following the whims of some Prince of Paddock, some Raj of Racing, some Hegemon of Horses. In contrast, those 'organized' sports such as baseball, basketball, and hockey which also have lengthy seasons, but which have a defined playoff and championship structure, risk apathy amongst their fan base for the majority of the regular season. How many people do you know who say they only begin to pay attention to the NBA when the playoffs start, or ignore baseball until late August at the earliest? Racing, by having major races such as the Donn on Feb. 6th, scattered throughout the year, offers the public a constantly renewing set of contests with real value toward determining the year end championships.

This is the lesson Mr. Moss forgot, that hiding out in the corner of the sport defeating lesser grade opponents, the 'has beens' and the 'never weres', cannot be offset by just one single attempt at a challenging race, regardless of the hype which surrounds it. Scoring two touchdowns in the last minute of the game is great, but it doesn't change the outcome when you are down by 30 points.

[DJofSD]

Football, et al, do not have a win (one) and you're in the big dance format either.

[Dan H]

Rachel is a Horse of the Year in the United States.

Zenyatta is a Breeder's Cup World Champion.

Both are pretty nice trophies.

One was won by ballot.

One was won by racing.

I place more value on the latter.

[FenceBored]

Originally Posted by Dan H

Rachel is a Horse of the Year in the United States.

Zenyatta is a Breeder's Cup World Champion.

Both are pretty nice trophies.

One was won by ballot.

One was won by racing.

I place more value on the latter.

Correction: both were won by racing. One was won by running a single race. One was won by running a real campaign.

[Dan H]

Originally Posted by FenceBored

Correction: both were won by racing. One was won by running a single race. One was won by running a real campaign.

I saw it live on television. The guy opened an envelope and read the name Rachel Alexandra!

[FenceBored]

Originally Posted by Dan H

I saw it live on television. The guy opened an envelope and read the name Rachel Alexandra!

What you saw was the culmination of a process which began with the running of races. No horse's connections have ever won a racing championship with a horse who never ran a race.

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by FenceBored

Correction: both were won by racing. One was won by running a single race. One was won by running a real campaign.

LOL. I was going to say the same thing.

[DRIVEWAY]

Originally Posted by Dan H

Rachel is a Horse of the Year in the United States.

Zenyatta is a Breeder's Cup World Champion.

Both are pretty nice trophies.

One was won by ballot.

One was won by racing.

I place more value on the latter.

Fewer than 300 people voted. Just about every poll taken of the general racing public had the opposite outcome.

[Dahoss9698]

Originally Posted by DRIVEWAY

Fewer than 300 people voted. Just about every poll taken of the general racing public had the opposite outcome.

Which is the exact reason why the general public should never vote for awards, all star teams, Hall of Fames, etc.

[Kimsus]

Originally Posted by FenceBored

Jerry Moss likes to say that Zenyatta was beaten by proxy. But, this is not true. Zenyatta lost HOY due to the unimaginative, and ultimately weak campaign, arranged by ... whom?

I bring this up again because of a column by Dan Lieberman at the Bloodhorse, Breeders' Cup not a World Championship, which highlights one of Mr. Moss's mistakes, namely believing the hype that the BC is "like the Super Bowl" of horseracing. It's not.

You cannot compare Thoroughbred racing to other sports. In baseball, football, basketball, etc., the league office determines the schedule. It tells teams when to play, and where. Teams can’t decide to skip a game or pass the playoffs. In racing, the owner and trainer decide a horse’s schedule.
-- http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/wgoh/archive/2010/01/27/breeders-cup-not-a-world-championship.aspx

This is one of the strengths of horseracing, one that demonstrates its continuing existence as a true athletic competition (with associated mental competition from the spectators via paramutuel wagering), the myriad of separate owners each striving with their horses to accomplish the goals they have created for themselves, not just following the whims of some Prince of Paddock, some Raj of Racing, some Hegemon of Horses. In contrast, those 'organized' sports such as baseball, basketball, and hockey which also have lengthy seasons, but which have a defined playoff and championship structure, risk apathy amongst their fan base for the majority of the regular season. How many people do you know who say they only begin to pay attention to the NBA when the playoffs start, or ignore baseball until late August at the earliest? Racing, by having major races such as the Donn on Feb. 6th, scattered throughout the year, offers the public a constantly renewing set of contests with real value toward determining the year end championships.

This is the lesson Mr. Moss forgot, that hiding out in the corner of the sport defeating lesser grade opponents, the 'has beens' and the 'never weres', cannot be offset by just one single attempt at a challenging race, regardless of the hype which surrounds it. Scoring two touchdowns in the last minute of the game is great, but it doesn't change the outcome when you are down by 30 points.

HOY is done and over. Like I said the minute it was announced it's time to move on....Rachel deserved HOY or to be more accurate it was actually just short 3/4's of the year for the better overall campaign she had over Zenyatta's one superb performance sprinkled in with what some will call as a conservative campaign even though in the end she won 3 grade 1's in most cases with the handicap of carrying highweight. The amounts of space wasted on continuing to debate this is a waste of time, and to be fair both sides both can be accused of hiding out when it came to certain races(not the exact way I would put it though)...It's time to move on to new discussions as to who the better horse is when they get back, I look fwd to a future matchup now that Rachel is 4 and Zen is 6, where no one has the weight advantage though from what I have read since Rachel is so good and she is HOY maybe she should be the one giving weight for a change and to Zenyatta in particular since she is too slow.

Joanied I hope you loved the sacasm in this post.

[Dan H]

Originally Posted by Kimsus

HOY is done and over.

This is no longer a debate about Horse of the Year. It's about an original poster touting an article whose headline reads: "Breeder's Cup not a World Championship."

Should we put an asterisk besides the name of Ferdinand (1987), Curlin (2007), and AP Indy (1992)? Are their victories diminished because Dan Leiberman at Bloodhorse says the Breeder's Cup is not a world championship?

Zenyatta is my world champion. There was a race. I saw it.

Rachel Alexandra is horse of the year. There was a vote. I saw it.

[joanied]

Originally Posted by Kimsus

HOY is done and over. Like I said the minute it was announced it's time to move on....Rachel deserved HOY or to be more accurate it was actually just short 3/4's of the year for the better overall campaign she had over Zenyatta's one superb performance sprinkled in with what some will call as a conservative campaign even though in the end she won 3 grade 1's in most cases with the handicap of carrying highweight. The amounts of space wasted on continuing to debate this is a waste of time, and to be fair both sides both can be accused of hiding out when it came to certain races(not the exact way I would put it though)...It's time to move on to new discussions as to who the better horse is when they get back, I look fwd to a future matchup now that Rachel is 4 and Zen is 6, where no one has the weight advantage though from what I have read since Rachel is so good and she is HOY maybe she should be the one giving weight for a change and to Zenyatta in particular since she is too slow.

Joanied I hope you loved the sacasm in this post.

I'll need some time to mull it over

[FenceBored]

Originally Posted by Kimsus

HOY is done and over. Like I said the minute it was announced it's time to move on....Rachel deserved HOY or to be more accurate it was actually just short 3/4's of the year for the better overall campaign she had over Zenyatta's one superb performance sprinkled in with what some will call as a conservative campaign even though in the end she won 3 grade 1's in most cases with the handicap of carrying highweight. The amounts of space wasted on continuing to debate this is a waste of time, and to be fair both sides both can be accused of hiding out when it came to certain races(not the exact way I would put it)...It's time to move on to new discussions as to who the better horse is when they get back, I look fwd to the matchup now that Rachel is 4 and Zen is 6, where no one has the weight advantage though from what I have read since Rachel is so good and she is HOY maybe she should be the one giving weight for a change and to Zenyatta in particular since she is too slow.

This discussion isn't about who's the better horse (Rachel of course), but rather the fallacies underlying Jerry Moss's choice of races for Zenyatta last year. Knowing that he wanted the HOY for Zenyatta, knowing that he wanted her to be fresh and ready for a SA BC, he still had numerous options to which he did not avail himself. Indeed, as the year went on and Rachel's campaign eclisped Zenyatta's modest efforts Team Zenyatta did not adjust to the changing landscape, instead they continued to follow their old GPS loaded with outdated street maps. Is it any wonder Mr. Moss didn't reach his goal? He relied on the imagined power of the Breeders' Cup to deliver him a championship without exerting himself. This is a lesson for other owners: The BC isn't the be all/end all of racing. If you want the HOY, you have to work for it.

[Dahoss9698]

Originally Posted by Dan H

This is no longer a debate about Horse of the Year. It's about an original poster touting an article whose headline reads: "Breeder's Cup not a World Championship."

Should we put an asterisk besides the name of Ferdinand (1987), Curlin (2007), and AP Indy (1992)? Are their victories diminished because Dan Leiberman at Bloodhorse says the Breeder's Cup is not a world championship?

Zenyatta is my world champion. There was a race. I saw it.

Rachel Alexandra is horse of the year. There was a vote. I saw it.

So, by this logic, Dancing In Silks was your top sprinter in the world last year? Oh and Conduit was your world champion on turf right?

[DeanT]

Originally Posted by FenceBored

This is one of the strengths of horseracing, one that demonstrates its continuing existence as a true athletic competition (with associated mental competition from the spectators via paramutuel wagering), ............ In contrast, those 'organized' sports such as baseball, basketball, and hockey which also have lengthy seasons, but which have a defined playoff and championship structure, risk apathy amongst their fan base for the majority of the regular season.

I do find one thing a little strange in your argument: Baseball, Basketball and Hockey are popular.