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by Brock Sheridan for SureBet February 2012 - When Havre de Grace was named Horse of the Year at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Jan. 16, it seemed the historical ramification as the third consecutive female Horse of the Year stole recognition away from her accomplishments on the track. Granted, the 2011 group of older horses that traditionally produce the winner of the golden Eclipse Award will not be remembered as one of the better crops (if remembered much at all). But that, and the fact she finished fourth in her last start, should not somehow tarnish the year Havre de Grace produced for her owner Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Stables, trainer Larry Jones and the horseracing fans that fondly witnessed her acclaimed year. During her 2011 campaign, Havre de Grace raced seven times in seven graded races and lost only twice. She finished second by a scant nose to her rival Blind Luck in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at her base at Delaware Park; and finished fourth behind the winner Drosselmeyer in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs to end the year. The Delaware Handicap had been the sixth time Havre de Grace and Blind Luck had met during their career and the second time in 2011. Havre de Grace defeated Blind Luck by more than 3 lengths in the Grade 3 Azeri at Oaklawn Park in March and evened the rivalry at two wins each in five previous career starts. The Delaware Handicap gave Blind Luck her third career win over Havre de Grace (In the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic Blind Luck was second and Havre de Grace third behind winner Unrivaled Belle.) But with regard to the Horse of the Year award, the two split in 2011. Also notable was the fact that the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic was the second start against males in 2011 for Havre de Grace. She had already gone up one-love in a battle of the sexes by winning the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga against older males around two turns on dirt. The only horse in the Classic with two Grade 1 wins against older horses around two turns on dirt was Game On Dude, who also had four consecutive losses between those two races. That, and a second in the Classic, costs Game On Dude the necessary votes to overtake Havre de Grace as Horse of the Year. In comparison to other females to be named Horse of the Year, it would be difficult to say Havre de Grace was as popular or as successful as her two most immediate predecessors, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. Rachel Alexandra had what many consider the greatest campaign ever by a 3-year-old filly in North America. Rachel Alexandra was the first filly since Nellie Morse in 1924 to win the Preakness and the first female ever to win the Woodward. (Havre de Grace also won the Woodward – becoming only the second filly or mare to do so.) That same year, Rachel Alexandra also defeated males in the Haskell Invitational (Grade I) won the Martha Washington, Fair Grounds Oaks (Grade 2), Fantasy Stakes (Grade 2), Kentucky Oaks (Grade 1) and Mother Goose (Grade 1) against fillies. It is also difficult to compare Havre de Grace to the great Zenyatta and her Horse of the Year campaign two years ago. In 2010, Zenyatta raced six times, all in Grade 1 races; winning five and finished a heart-breaking second to Blame by a head in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Prior to Zenyatta, Azeri was the last female to take Horse of the Year in 2002. Azeri started her year with a win in a Santa Anita allowance race but then finished second against other 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 2 La Canada. The daughter of Jade Hunter then rattled off seven consecutive wins, all in Grade 1 and Grade 2 races against fillies and mares. Azeri finished the year winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but never challenged males that year. No females were named Horse of the year in the 1990s, but two distaffers were so honored in the previous decade with Lady’s Secret in 1986 and All Along in 1983. Lady’s Secret ran 15 times during her Horse of the Year run, winning 10 of those races. Only twice did the grey daughter of Secretariat step outside of Grade 1 company that year and she won both the Grade 3 El Encino at Santa Anita and the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park when she did. Lady’s Secret took on males four times in 1986 but was able to win only the Grade 1 Whitney against them. She also lost to males while finishing third in both the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park and Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park and second in the Woodward at Saratoga – all Grade 2 stakes. Her only other loss was against Grade 1 fillies and mares, finishing second in the Hemstead Handicap, giving 13 pounds to the winner Endear in a major upset. On the other side of the ledger, in terms of American starts, was All Along with only three in 1983. Although she raced four times in Europe that year, including a win over males in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, those races were not to be considered by North American Horse of the Year voters. All Along was given the award based on her three wins in three Grade 1 races in North America, all against older males on grass. In the last year before the inaugural Breeders’ Cup, All Along won the Rothmans International at Woodbine, the Turf Classic at Aqueduct and the D.C. International at Laurel. It is also hard to compare a 2011 Havre de Grace with the Horse of the Year run Mocassin had in 1965 for any number of reasons. First, Moccassin shared the award with Roman Brother as the Thoroughbred Racing Association voters went for the 2-year-old filly Mocassin, while Daily Racing Form gave their nod to Roman Ruler, a 4-year-old gelding. Moccassin was undefeated in eight races that year, of which five were stakes and all were against fillies. It is also a challenge to compare the Havre de Grace with any champion before 1974 when North American races were first graded by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The last two consecutive females to be named Horse of the Year were Twilight Tear in 1944 and Busher in 1945 with both having significant success against males. Busher won the award at 3 after defeating males in the San Vincente, Arlington Handicap, Washington Park Handicap and Hollywood Derby, among her 11 races that year. She was also second against males in the Santa Anita Derby and Will Rogers Handicap, giving her a solid record outside of her class. Her only loss to females was to Duranza in the Beverly Handicap at Washington Park, but Busher would defeat Duranza in their next start, a match race also run at the old Chicago track. Twilight Tear had 17 starts in 1944, ending the year defeating males in the Pimlico Special. It was her ninth race and seventh win against the boys who also lost to Twilight Tear in the Rennert Handicap at Pimlico, the Classic Stakes and Skokie Handicap at Washington Park and three allowance races. Her only losses that year came in the Maryland Handicap against older mares at Pimlico, the Alabama Stakes against fillies at Belmont and the Leap Year Handicap against older horses at Hialeah. Twilight Tear and Busher followed 39 consecutive years of male Horse of the Year dominance going back to Regret in 1915. Despite racing only twice that year, one of the wins by Regret was the Kentucky Derby, which even nearly 100 years ago, carried enough prestige to give Regret the Horse of the Year title. For the record, Regret’s other victory was against colts in the Saranac Handicap at Saratoga. Before Regret however, the only other females named Horse of the Year were Beldame in 1904 and Imp in 1899 and both worked significantly harder than Regret for the respective titles. Beldame ran 14 times during her title year and Imp started a startling 31 times the year she took the honor. Even more amazing about Imp’s 1899 campaign was that only once during that year did she compete in a race restricted to fillies and mares. The other 30 starts were against open company. Her year didn’t start until April when she finished fourth in an open Handicap at Bennings racetrack in Washington, D.C. and ended with her giving 20 pounds to her only competitor, Charentus, in the Oriental Handicap at Gravesend race track in New York. In between, she started every 5.6 days with her longest break coming between a win in the July 31 Islip Stakes at Brighton Beach and a third-place finish in the Fall Handicap at Sheepshead Bay. Imp won 13 times that year of which 12 were stakes. While not as busy as Imp, Beldame also ran from April to September, starting 3-year-old year defeating older horses in the 7-furlong Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. Only six of Beldame’s races that year came against females, and she won five of those. Her only losses during her Horse of the Year run came in the Metropolitan Handicap against older horses and the Test Handicap against older mares. While Havre de Grace may not stand so high in the history books as Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta; nor did she defeat her male counterparts as many times as Imp or go undefeated, like Moccasin. Nor is it the fault of Havre de Grace that she found herself competing against a weak class of older horses. Havre de Grace lost only twice -- both against the best levels of horse racing -- and won her other races against equally top competition. There have been 131 horses named Horse of the Year since Hanover was the first North American Horse of the Year in 1887. Only 12 of those named Horse of the Year in that span have been fillies or mares, of which Havre de Grace is one. That, in itself, is historical. Even after following Rachel and Queen Z. | ||
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How
Will HOTY History Treat Havre de Grace? 