DrugS, how'd you expect Azeri to do vs her 5th place Classic finish and how'd you think she'd have fared in the 2002 BCC field rather than the Distaff? I remember the good old days when we were yelling about her 2002/2003 redundant schedule instead of Zenyatta's. Azeri came east for multiple G1 wins at 6, but got HOY the year she stayed in CA. Of course she did those races on dirt.
Here's a question for everybody: would Zenyatta have swayed more voters for HOY if she'd done her campaign on CA dirt tracks? Would we be talking about quality of field or even failing to race the season in open company as much if there'd been that dirt surface? I know there was some discussion even in Azeri's situation, but she still won the award. She didn't have a Rachel in the East though, but I do wonder how much of the vote went Rachel's way for Rachel's sake, and how much was anti-synthetic. We all seem to agree Zenyatta's better on dirt. I'm sure the performances would've been flashier. There'd be no 'but she barely beat Anabaa's Creation.' Of course, as our ol' pal Rupert pointed out, the foes coming from East to West might've been different because horses liked coming out for G1s, the problem being it was G1s on dirt that they'd rather come for. Assume the opponents wouldn't be different, though, for the purposes of this question.
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