Game On Dude merits Horse of Year
When Drosselmeyer charged across the finish line first by 1½ lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Churchill Downs, it left Eclipse Award voters with a question mark instead of an exclamation point as they debated Horse of the Year.
It is hard to think of a season as confounding as 2011. Rachel Alexandra did not need to go on to the Breeders’ Cup in 2009 to prove she was the best of either sex. Her win against older males in the Woodward Stakes, where she was challenged throughout, was that convincing and memorable.
No one begrudged Zenyatta when she was feted at the end of 2010 even though she had narrowly missed overtaking Blame in the 1¼mile Classic. With her quirky paddock dance and her otherwise perfect body of work, she stamped herself as one of the greatest mares of all time. But 2011? Save the superlatives. Since there has to be a Horse of the Year, let’s start with the top four Classic finishers.
Havre de Grace was one victory away from becoming the third consecutive member of her sex to secure top honors. She swept five of seven starts with one second-place finish. She turned back Flat Out by 1¼ lengths in the Woodward. But she failed to crack the top three for the only time during the season at the worst possible time, finishing fourth at Churchill Downs.
Third-place finisher Ruler on Ice? He did nothing to help himself after his Belmont Stakes triumph on a sloppy track to provide the third different winner in the Triple Crown series. Third in the Haskell. Fourth in the Travers. Second in the Pennsylvania Derby. No way.
Drosselmeyer is just as easy to eliminate. Yes, he was best on the big day after a runner-up finish to Flat Out in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. But it was only his second victory of the year, the other in an ungraded stakes race at Belmont Park.
That brings us to Classic runner-up Game On Dude. He set the pace for jockey Chantal Sutherland before grudgingly giving way. The 4-year-old son of Awesome Again was a model of consistency for trainer Bob Baffert, with three wins, three seconds and a third, earning $1,917,400.
His triumphs included two Grade 1 scores, the Santa Anita Handicap and the Goodwood at Santa Anita. He narrowly missed another by a nose in the Hollywood Gold Cup.
Some might make a case for Caleb’s Posse, a dominant 4-length victor in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile who nosed Uncle Mo with a scintillating rally in the King’s Bishop Stakes in late August. He was a weakening third in the Indiana Derby, however, between those two major efforts.