1999 Year End Review

Dateline: 12/24/99

Victory Gallop vs. Behrens in the Whitney voted Most Exciting Race of the Year in our poll courtesy of Deborah Kral

As we move into year 2000 it is time to a look back at 1999. It was a busy year for horse racing with some bizarre stories like Lee Ferrell trying to punch Artax on Preakness Day and Billy Patin's electric win in Arkansas. There was also a lot of sadness this year with some dear old friends leaving us and the untimely and tragic deaths of jockey J.C. Gonzalez and the nice filly Three Ring. Ultimately it seems to have been rather a bust of a year as far as selecting a champion goes since nobody really put in a year long tour de force in the US. The Breeders' Cup didn't produce a solid favorite for Horse of the Year and even now it would be difficult to predict which of the three finalists will win.

To start off lets look at the results of the polls I ran for you to cast your votes in several categories for our own end of the year awards. I want to thank all of you who took time to vote. Here are the top two from each category:

Best or Most Exciting Race of the Year: 41% - Whitney Handicap - Victory Gallop noses out Behrens 23% - Kentucky Derby - Charismatic wins	Most Impressive Performance of the Year: 27% - Victory Gallop in the Stephen Foster 19% - Charismatic in the Preakness
Most Shocking Win of the Year: 37% - Charismatic in the Kentucky Derby 32% - Cat Thief in the Breeders' Cup Classic	Biggest Jump in Class of the Year: 41% - Charismatic 29% - Budroyale
Most Embarassing Moment of the Year: 40% - Valhol, Billy Patin, and a buzzer at the Arkansas Derby 18% - Fan running on the track Preakness day	Best Human Interest Story of the Year: 45% - Chris Antley and Charismatic in the Triple Crown 20% - Laffit Pincay closing in on (and breaking) Shoemaker's win record
Most Important Story of the Year: 22% - Frank Stronach's track acquisitions 21% - Reopening of Arlington International in Chicago	Saddest Moment of the Year: 45% - Three Ring dying in a freak paddock accident at Belmont 34% - Jockey J.C. Gonzalez dying in a racing accident at Fairplex
Most Over-rated Trainer of the Year: 33% - Bob Baffert 17% - Michael Dickinson	Most Under-rated Trainer of the Year: 25% - H. James Bond 24% - Julio Canani
Most Over-rated Jockey of the Year: 21% - Frankie Dettori 16% - Gary Stevens (in England)	Most Under-rated Jockey of the Year: 29% - Edgar Prado 23% - Jorge Chavez
Most Over-rated Horse of the Year: 30% - Stephen Got Even 24% - More Than Ready	Most Under-rated Horse of the Year: 24% - Cat Thief 22% - Charismatic

You can view the full list of choices and results for the polls here.

Horse of the Year Finalists Artax

Charismatic

Daylami courtesy of Emirates Racing Series

I also ran a poll on who you thought should be the Horse of the Year which was very well responded to with over 4000 votes. Our selections for the finalists was not much different from what the pros picked. The actual finalists are Artax, Charismatic, and Daylami and the winner is supposed to be announced on January 17th. If you would like to cast your vote for which of this three will win the honors, check the new poll. Here are our results from the first poll:

Artax (1699) 35% Daylami (1086) 22% Beautiful Pleasure (940) 19% Charismatic (488) 10%

You may view the full results and the descriptions of all the contenders here.

Recaps:

• Horse Racing 1999 - recap from SportsLine
• Milestones for 1999 - prominent events for the year from the Blood Horse
• Newsmakers - the big headline grabbers among the racing personalities and the different racing divisions
• Regional Reflections - the top events in the major racing regions
• Predictions for 2000 - some comic and some serious
• Winners and Losers for 1999 - for Europe from the Sporting Life
• European Year in Review
• Recaps of Major Australian Races

Major news stories:

• Valhol wins the Arkansas Derby with electrical assistance
• 'Fan' takes a punch at Artax on Preakness Day - nice photo here
• Charismatic Almost Wins the Triple Crown but Breaks Down
• Jockey Rudy Baez Paralyzed in Spill at Rockingham
• Hall of Fame New Inductees - D. Wayne Lukas, Russell Baze, Exceller, Miesque, and Gun Bow
• Frank Stronach Buys Tracks
• Sales Hit New Highs - prices were booming everywhere
• Dettori's post Breeders' Cup whining
• Nasal strips
• Laffit Pincay Breaks the Record
• Eclipse Award finalists for 1999

Gone but not forgotten:

• Paul Mellon, 1907-1999
• Charlie Whittingham Remembered
• Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, 1912-1999
• Jockey J.C. Gonzalez Dies in Spill at Fairplex
• Cal Partee - trainer of Lil E. Tee
• Georgia Hofmann
• Mr. Prospector - top sire put down due to colic complications
• Riverman - top Thoroughbred sire
• Three Ring - dies in a tragic paddock accident
• Superbowl - top harness sire
• Niatross - popular champion harness racer and sire

Big Races in 1999:

• Florida Derby
• Galleryfurniture.com Stakes
• Blue Grass Stakes
• Grand National
• Kentucky Oaks
• Kentucky Derby
• Preakness
• Belmont Stakes
• Queen's Plate
• The Travers (covers the 4 days of stakes at Saratoga around the Travers)
• Atto Mile
• Kentucky Cup
• Kentucky Cup Turf Festival
• Canadian International and E.P. Taylor Stakes
• Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
• Melbourne Cup
• Breeder's Cup
• Japan Cup
• Hong Kong Cup

Looking at the Century:

• Greatest horses of the Century - the 10 greatest overall and female horses of the century as selected by a panel of experts
• Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century - as selected by the Blood Horse committee
• Nijinsky II voted racehorse of the century in England - more info about him here
• Century of Superstars - Australia's top 10 for the century
• Greatest of the Century - top trotters and pacers as selected by the readers of Hoofbeats

On the Forum:

Photos by author except where noted

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