Afleet Alex

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

You know, I was just thinking about recent 3YO's who won the HOY award:

Point Given
Charismatic
Favorite Trick (2YO!!!!)
AP Indy
SUnday Silence

This is totally a new topic, I realize this, but I find it suspect that horses like Favorite Trick and Charismatic won the HOY award, but Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones - two of the best 3YO's we'll see in a while - finished second to Ghostzapper and Saint Liam, respectively.

It is all just luck really. I think most people would agree that Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex were better horses - and had better years - than someone like Charismatic. It just so happened that in 2004 and 2005 there was a fairly clear cut champion in the older horse division. When this is the case, that horse will usually win HOY. In 1999 you had a situation where the BCC was won by Cat Thief who had won only one other stakes race that year, and who had actually been beaten by Charismatic in the Derby. So obviously Cat Thief isn't going to be HOY....thus Charasmatic wins by default.