Horse Racing: Goldikova, Zenyatta and Blame fight for Eclipse
The 40th Annual Eclipse Award dinner has been announced to take place at Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel on the 17th of January. The champion mare Goldikova will be facing strong competition from the talented racehorses Blame and Zenyatta.
Blame was the winner of the prestigious Breeders’ Cup Classic event of the last racing season, meanwhile Zenyatta was her runner up and has the honour of winning 19 of her 20 career starts. Only time will now decide which racehorse will be crowned the Horse
of the Year at the award ceremony. What is interesting about this whole scenario is the racehorses are once again in competition with each other, even after their retirement.
According to the sports analysts the most likely awards that will be presented to the three racehorses will be as follows: Blame is a very strong candidate for the Champion Older Male category, while Zenyatta is most likely to grab the female equivalent
for the same category. On the other hand, the analysts are of the view that there are high chances that Goldikova will bag the Champion Female Turf category.
It has also been revealed that special recognition will be given to the connections of The Queen Zenyatta. That implies that her owners Jerry and Ann Moss, trainer John Sheriffs and jockey Mike Smith will be presented the Special Eclipse Award. Moreover
her racing manager, groom, exercise rider, assistant trainer and hotwalker will also be appreciated for their great contributions towards the racing industry by playing an important role in the development of Zenyatta. They will also be given a chance to share
their hard work with the public.
In the last racing season, the champion racehorse Blame claimed four of his five career starts and thus has been nominated amongst the top racehorses for the most exalted award of the racing industry. Three of the races in which Blame clinched victories
were Grade I events, including the one in which he was successful in holding off Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic event.
On the other hand, Goldikova who lost only one race in the last racing season has the honour of being the only racehorse to have won the Breeders’ Cup race three times during her racing career. Moreover, she is the only finalist of the 2011 edition of the
event.
The voting lines for the Horse of the Year title and divisional honours have been reported to close on Tuesday.
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