Zenyatta Has Earned Horse of the Year

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

If another horse does enough to generate them, yes. It would need to be a triple crown winner, but yea it could happen.

I just am dumbfounded by the discussion that she did not transcend the normal viewer ship of the sport, that somehow she has done little to advance the sport. I can find countless posts from around the net that would make it sound like there are just as many crazy people on both sides of the fence.

One could argue Goldikova has certainly done enough to generate the kind of buzz Zenyatta got this year. If she makes it back next year for the Mile I would hope she gets the kind of media attention she deserves.

You'll get no arguement from me that viewership was up this year because people were drawn in by Zenyatta. What I am saying is, if you give another horse the same kind of push, you will see similar results. Obviously it would have to be a special horse and there aren't many. But horse racing has dropped the ball a lot in terms of marketing.

Isn't it a bit premature to talk about how much she has advanced the sport? Advanced in what way? Because viewership was up for one race? How many of those people are going to watch again? Were any of those people educated about the sport? Were they taught about betting? That is what is going to advance the sport IMO. Not puff pieces full of hyperbole.