MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Zenyatta was named 2010 Horse of the Year Friday night, over the horse who defeated her in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Blame.
The highly anticipated announcement put an exclamation point to a remarkable career. Zenyatta won her first 19 races – a record for a modern-day horse racing in major events. In the Classic, last November at Churchill Downs, she fell far behind the field before rallying furiously and just coming up short of catching Blame.
Blame won five of his six races during 2010, losing only the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Zenyatta lost Horse of the Year honors for 2008 to Curlin and last year to Rachel Alexandra.
Now retired, Zenyatta will be bred this spring to a sire yet to be announced. Blame also has been retired to stand at stud. Goldikova, the other finalist for Horse of the Year, won her third straight Breeders' Cup Mile in November in her only U.S. appearance. She is to race again in 2011.
Zenyatta is owned by Jerry Moss, the co-founder of A&M Records, and his wife, Ann. She was trained by John Shirreffs and ridden for most of her career by Mike Smith.
"She's like a miracle," Moss said. "She has meant so much to Thoroughbred racing."
Smith, who blamed himself for Zenyatta's loss in the Classic, said the Horse of the Year vote, "makes it all OK."
Horse of the Year is the top honor in the annual Eclipse Awards, voted by the staff of Daily Racing Form, turf writers and race track publicists. Zenyatta got 128 votes; Blame, 102; Goldikova, 5. One voter abstained and two chose not to vote for Horse of the Year.
