VOTING FOR DAYLAMI ISN'T A FOREIGN CONCEPT.Byline: Kevin Modesti Some Horse of the Year voters think Daylami spent too little of 1999 in the United States, running here once and winning the Breeders' Cup Turf The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. The race's current title sponsor is John Deere. last Saturday. And they're right. The great ones are never around long enough. But should that disqualify the best horse in the world from recognition as the best horse to race in North America this year? It shouldn't, and if the ballot were due today I'd vote for Irish-bred, Dubai-owned, Europe-based Daylami as Horse of the Year. Running away with the $2 million Turf by 2-1/2 lengths in his final career race after a perfect ride by Frankie Dettori, the 5-year-old gray was the most dominant of the eight winners on Breeders' Cup day at Gulfstream Park in Florida. The winner's purse gave him earnings this year of more than $2.4 million, third behind Dubai World Cup The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The race is operated through the Emirates Horse Racing Authority (EHRA) whose Chairman is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, winner Almutawakel and Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. winner Cat Thief, neither of whom sustained a campaign worthy of Horse of the Year. That doesn't count the $1 million bonus Daylami received as top points-earner in the Emirates World Series Racing Championship series. He won three major races in a row in the summer - the Coronation Cup at Epsom, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot by five lengths under 133 pounds and Irish Champion Stakes The Irish Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in the Republic of Ireland for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres) at Leopardstown Racecourse in September. at Leopardstown by nine under 130 - before finishing ninth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat race for three-year-old and above thoroughbred horses (excluding geldings). It is run over a distance of 2,400 metres (approximately 1 mile 4 furlongs) raced on turf at Longchamp Racecourse, Paris, France on the first Sunday in at Longchamp on the kind of ``heavy'' turf he detests. Those victories in Europe would mean nothing for the purposes of the Horse of the Year contest if Daylami hadn't been so impressive in the Breeders' Cup. Is it proper to consider them now? The NTRA NTRA National Thoroughbred Racing Association NTRA National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Egypt) NTRA National Training Reform Agenda NTRA Nano Technology Research Association (Korea) , which administers the Horse of the Year and Eclipse Award voting, provides no rules to guide us. The precedents are contradictory. Voters weighed Cigar's victory in the 1996 Dubai World Cup - one of major victories in that season of his decline - when they gave him a second consecutive Horse of the Year Award. So the precedent exists for considering overseas performances. And if racing follows the trend of the past decade, the sport will become increasingly international in nature, and we'll learn to embrace the great foreign horses. Miesque won the Eclipse Award as outstanding turf female in 1987 and 1988 even though her Breeders' Cup Mile victories were her only U.S. starts those years. Arazi won the 2-year-old championship with his Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. victory in 1991. Why should the criteria for Horse of the Year be any stricter? All Along, the French filly who was voted Horse of the Year in 1983 - the year before the first Breeders' Cup - counted three victories in U.S. and Canada among her seven starts. To listen to some voters, racing three times in this country would be enough, twice would be arguable, but once is too few. The distinction sounds arbitrary. The trouble is, if you set hard-and-fast standards for foreign horses, you have to set hard-and-fast standards for American horses, too. Pretty soon you're simply handing the trophy to the horse with the highest earnings or the most Grade I wins. The Horse of the Year decision is more subjective than that. Perhaps never has it been as subjective as this year, when the spate of midseason injuries and the string of Breeders' Cup upsets left some tough choices for the turf writers, Daily Racing Form The Daily Racing Form, LLC (DRF) is a broadsheet newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in the United States. staffers and track executives who'll do the voting in January. ``It wouldn't surprise me if 10 different horses got first-place votes,'' jockey agent Scotty McClellan said. Ten might be high, but I've heard serious cases made for Charismatic, Artax, Beautiful Pleasure, Soaring Softly, Silverbulletday and Victory Gallop. Also, Budroyale and Mazel Trick are being touted by their trainers. Charismatic, who came within a fractured ankle of sweeping the Triple Crown, would be a reasonable sentimental pick for sentimentalists in a year without a perfect candidate. Artax, who won the Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for three year olds & up. Run on dirt over a distance of 6 Furlongs (3/4 mile), the race has been held annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the in a track-record 1:07.89 for 6 furlongs, the third record he set or equaled in 1999, is the most popular Horse of the Year contender I can't get behind. He's 4 for 15, without a victory longer than 7 furlongs. Voting for a sprinter for Horse of the Year is like voting for a punter for the Heisman Trophy. Horses don't become sprinters unless they've tried and failed at the longer distances offering more money and prestige. Artax would broaden his resume if he won impressively in the Nov. 27 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. At least until that happens, I'm going for Daylami. Back to Hollywood: The easily overlooked Hollywood Park winter season, wedged between the Breeders' Cup and Christmas, opened Wednesday but won't really get rolling until the Turf Festival races on Thanksgiving weekend. The six turf races, with purses totaling $2.1 million, include the Nov. 27 Citation Handicap and Nov. 28 Matriarch for fillies and mares and Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds. The Hollywood Turf Cup is Dec. 4. The meet's major 2-year-old races could draw some of D. Wayne Lukas' Breeders' Cup horses: Juvenile third-place finisher High Yield in the Dec. 18 Hollywood Futurity and Juvenile Fillies winner Cash Run and third-place Surfside surf·side adj. Situated or sited at or near the seashore: surfside parties; a surfside road. for the Dec. 19 Hollywood Starlet. A WEEK AT THE RACES At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 28 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. Final Oak Tree standings: Jockeys: David Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the and Alex Solis, 25 wins; Laffit Pincay, 17; Eddie Delahoussaye, Garrett Gomez and Gary Stevens, 15; Chris McCarron, 14; Corey Nakatani, 13; Brice Blanc, Victor Espinoza and Martin Pedroza, 11. Trainers: Bob Baffert, 20; Richard Mandella, Ron McAnally and Bill Spawr, 11; Bobby Frankel, Doug Peterson and John Sadler, 8; Jack Carava, Vladimir Cerin, Mike Mitchell and Ted West Jr., 6. Handicapper hand·i·cap·per n. Sports & Games 1. One who assigns handicaps. 2. One who predicts the winners in a horserace, especially one who publishes such predictions as a guide for bettors. Noun 1. helper: Based on the stats from 1998, expect horses who showed early speed at Santa Anita to do a little worse in main-track sprints at Hollywood Park and better in turf races at Hollywood. On the stakes schedule: At Hollywood Park: Saturday, $70,000 Steinlen Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles on turf; Sunday, $100,000 Moccasin moccasin, in footwear moccasin, skin shoe worn by indigenous people of North America, excepting the sandal wearers of the Southwest area. There were two general types of moccasins, the hard-soled, which was used in the Eastern woodlands and the Southeast Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs. At Bay Meadows: Saturday, $100,000 California Juvenile, 2-year-olds, 1 mile. At Churchill Downs: Saturday, $200,000 Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap, fillies and mares 3 and up, 1 mile. At Aqueduct: Saturday, $100,000 Long Island Handicap The Long Island Handicap is a race for Thoroughbred horses held each November at Aqueduct Racetrack. The race is for fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race the one and one-half miles on the turf. , fillies and mares 3 and up, 1-1/2 miles on turf. Mileposts: The California Horse Racing Board voted radio executive George Nicholaw its chairman and attorney Robert Tourtelot its vice chairman at a meeting Wednesday in Inglewood. Frank Stronach's purchase of Golden Gate Fields Golden Gate Fields is a horse racing track straddling both Albany, California and Berkeley, California along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the was approved. . . . The Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. purse will go back to $1 million - up from $750,000 - next April 8. The Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during will remain at $1 million March 4. . . . Jockey Chris Antley will sit out Nov. 17-26 after withdrawing appeals of two suspensions handed down at Del Mar. . . . Gary Stevens is due back at Hollywood Park Saturday after going to Saudi Arabia on Thoroughbred Corp. business. . . . Brian Beech, agent for Emile Ramsammy, is moving east to book mounts for Mike Smith. Bill Barisoff will handle Ramsammy's book as well as Eddie Delahoussaye's. . . . Don Porter, 86, who trained horses at the Northern California racetracks since they opened in the 1930s, died Monday in San Leandro. . . . National purse leaders after the Breeders' Cup: jockey Pat Day ($16.7 million, $170,000 ahead of Jerry Bailey) and trainer Bob Baffert ($15.6 million, $3.9 million ahead of D. Wayne Lukas Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is a former educator who became one of the most successful horse trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing history and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. ). . . . More evidence that the guaranteed pick-six is an overused gimmick: Although fans wagered $436,000 more than the $5 million pool guarantee on the Breeders' Cup pick-six Saturday, they came up more than $500,000 short of the $1 million guarantees Friday and Sunday at Gulfstream Park. . . . Trainer Ian Jory and jockey Pat Valenzuela teamed up for a triple Thursday at Hollywood Park. CAPTION(S): box BOX: A day at the races (see text) |
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