Saratoga Report #7: The Awards

Horse of the Meet: Honor Code – We debated over this one for awhile, but in the end Honor Code probably deserves this award the most.  His Whitney victory was the most impressive of the meet, and he leaves Saratoga as the number one ranked older horse in America.  The respect he gained here cannot be denied.

Older Male of the Meet: Honor Code – Obvious choice as he won the meets biggest race for older males, and then the second place finisher of that race came back to win the Woodward Stakes.  Interesting to see where he shows up next.

Older Female of the Meet: Sheer Drama – Came to Saratoga after winning the Delaware Handicap, and defeated the locals fairly easily on Travers Day.  She won’t be any match for Beholder, however she’s now the second best mare in the country.

3 Year Old Male of the Meet: Keen Ice – Defeated the Triple Crown winner in the Travers…need we say more?  This years Travers Stakes will certainly go down in history and will be a race we never forget.  You must credit Keen Ice his level of improvement throughout the year.

3 Year Old Female of the Meet: I’m a Chatterbox – Strange to pick a horse that didn’t win a race at the meet, but she did cross the wire first in the Coaching Club American Oaks before being DQ’d.  Also in the Alabama Stakes she ran a game second so she leaves The Spa accomplishing the most.

2 Year Old Male of the Meet: Ralis – California shippers dominated the Saratoga Special and Hopeful Stakes this year.  Ralis was the one that conquered the Hopeful, and impressed us the most.  The locally based two year olds were not as strong as normal.

2 Year Old Female of the Meet: Rachel’s Valentina – The feel good story of the meet!  Rachel Alexandra’s little girl broke her maiden and then won the Grade 1 Spinaway while becoming everyone’s favorite two year old.  Hopefully she can continue to progress and blossom into something special.

Sprinter of the Meet: Private Zone – There were a few horses that could have won this award, but Private Zone’s Forego win sticks out a little bit above the rest.  One of the coolest horses in training right now!

Owner of the Meet: Michael Dubb – Ended up winning the owners title rather easily.  His stable is as strong as ever right now, and his horses really helped Chad Brown almost pull off the upset in the trainers standings over Todd Pletcher.

Trainer of the Meet: Todd Pletcher – It was close this year…but in the end Todd Pletcher was just able to edge past Chad Brown in the final three days of the meet.  His two year olds were not as good as normal this year, but he was still able to get the job done.

Jockey of the Meet: Javier Castellano – First of all congratulations to Irad Ortiz Jr. for winning the jockey’s title!  99 times out of 100 he would be the winner of this award, but Castellano was able to win SIX Grade 1 races this meet including the Whitney, Woodward, Travers, and Hopeful Stakes.  Those huge victories gave him the edge over Oritz.

Race of the Meet:  The Travers Stakes – It was one of the most highly anticipated Travers of all time, and in the end it didn’t disappoint.  Even though it took an unexpected turn with Keen Ice winning it still was a historic race.