The first decade of the 21st century is absolutely sprinting to the finish line. The decade must have set slow fractions, because it is now flying to the wire. This allows me to unveil a very special edition of ZATT. A column so big that I have already notified my server to be ready for the onslaught. A column so important, that I could not wait the final 30 days before publishing. Today I present to my millions of readers (foreshadowing the future of Zipse at the Track) the Zipse Awards. Horses of the decade in each division, I even added one category that the Eclipse Awards should recognize. These only come around every ten years or so, take a deep breath, grab a drink, and enjoy!
The Single Year Awards:
Champion Two-Year-Old Colt: Perfection is rewarded as The Zipse Award for the most outstanding juvenile of the decade goes to Vindication. The son of Seattle Slew was undefeated at two culminating with an effortless score in the 2002 BC Juvenile. He won a lot of people money through horse racing betting as he won all of his races and he traveled from California to Kentucky to Chicago in his four races. While it was not a long season for Vindication, it was the best of any juvenile of the decade.
Champion Two-Year-Old Filly: A very strong division this decade with several worthy candidates. Because there were so many similar juvenile filly resumes to consider, I went with the filly who I thought ran the best single race in her marvelous season. That filly is Halfbridled. The daughter of Unbridled sported an undefeated 4 for 4 record and overcame the adversity of having post position 14 in her biggest race of the year, the 2003 Breeder’s Cup.
Champion Three-Year-Old Colt: There were a slew of excellent three-year-olds in the decade, but for whatever reason, most were unable to complete a full season of excellence. The exception to this was Curlin, who began his career in the Spring of the season with romping wins in Florida and Arkansas and finished the year with an easy score in the BC Classic. Because of his consistency over the entire year of 2007 and the depth of his competition, Curlin nabs the Zipse Award as the three-year-old of the decade.
Champion Three-Year-Old Filly: Rachel Alexandra is my choice for champion three-year-old filly in this decade and she would be in any other decade. 8 for 8 all in stakes, winning the Kentucky Oaks and Mother Goose by 20, the first filly to win the Preakness in almost a century, the first female ever to win the Woodward…Rachel is an all-time great.
The Multi-Year Awards:
Champion Older Male Horse: There were many good candidates here, but the nod goes to the Star of Uruguay and Kenny Mayne’s favorite horse, Invasor. Invasor was undefeated as an older horse, competing in only the biggest races. He won the BC Classic to cap his perfect season in the U.S. and returned the following year to win the Dubai World Cup. Invasor is the only horse I know to be Horse of the Year in both Uruguay, where he won their triple crown, and in America.
Champion Older Female Horse: Zenyatta may have won this award before this year even began and with another undefeated season and a spectacular victory in the BC Classic, she storms by her main Zipse Award competition, Azeri, with power and ease.
Champion Sprint Horse: Another tough call, but I am going with the durability of the champion sprinter of 2000, Kona Gold. Unlike much of his competition, Kona Gold had a lengthy career that finally ended at age nine. Even at nine he was a stakes winning sprinter. I am not sure his record of running in five consecutive Breeder’s Cups will ever be broken. He only won the BC once, but he was the old man to fear in the big sprint stakes the first four years of this decade.
Champion Female Sprint Horse: Xtra Heat was a sprinting marvel. She was such a quality sprinter that she was named three-year-old filly champion of 2001, despite running exclusively in sprints. He record was remarkable, 26 wins in 35 races and the last 34 were all stakes . Enough said.
Champion Miler: While Ghostzapper only got the chance to display his talents at the flat mile one time, in an explosive win in the Met Mile, he was undoubtedly the horse who best bridged the gap between outstanding sprinter and top handicap horse. Ghostzapper was a unique talent for the late Bobby Frankel, and in my opinion he was the most outstanding miler of the decade, just ahead of a certain French filly we all know.
Champion Male Turf Horse: One of my tougher decisions. In the end I made my decision based on Breeders’ Cup brilliance. Conduit ran two spectacular races in the BC Turf and either of those races would have been good enough to win in most Breeders’ Cups of the decade. Only two races run in America were enough for Conduit to win the award in part because this division was down a little compared with previous decades.
Champion Female Turf Horse: Ouija Board was a super turf mare worldwide during her entire, illustrious career and overshadows all but one great turf mare that has run this decade. During her trips to America, Ouija Board won the BC Filly & Mare Turf twice and was second once in a three year span. This year’s BC Mile made this a very tough decision, but in the end I went with the distance mare over the miler as I feel the longer races are of slightly more importance than the one mile specialty of Goldikova.
Horse of the Decade: Drum roll please…The winner of the Zipse Award for Horse of the Decade goes to none other than the undefeated mare from California, Zenyatta. Many may think this is an odd decision, as I do not advocate her for Horse of the Year in 2009. True, but when I consider the entire body of work over the decade, Zenyatta narrowly outshines the credentials of Curlin, Invasor, Tiznow, Ghostzapper, and the horse I consider to have had the best single year, Rachel Alexandra. I commend Zenyatta and her unblemished record of 14 for 14, highlighted by impressive wins in two different Breeders’ Cup races. The Queen of California is the Horse of the Decade. |
