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Tim Wilkin

Bob Baffert, the most recent trainer inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, would give Horse of the Year to Zenyatta.

He’s a California guy. Zenyatta is a California horse. You had to expect that.

“I thought she was going to have to do something big in the Classic and she did,” Baffert said. “You have to reward those people, otherwise the Breeders’ Cup races aren’t going to mean anything. I had a horse (Richard’s Kid) in the Classic and I switched camps at the eighth pole and jumped on her bandwagon.”

Until the Horse of the Year is announced on Jan. 18 in Beverly Hills, the debate will rage as to who should win it: Zenyatta, the 5-year-old mare, or Rachel Alexandra, the 3-year-old filly.

Zenyatta won all five of her races this year, all of them on the fake track out west. Rachel was 8-8 this year and won on seven different tracks (all dirt) and beat colts three times.

“Synthetics don’t bring out their brilliance. It slows them down,” Baffert said. “That was probably the best moment I have ever seen at the Breeders’ Cup. Zenyatta ran by those horses like they were claimers. I thought Rachel was Horse of the Year until that peformance. I would give it to Zenyatta.”

So what is your choice for horse of the year? Vote here.