The Great Debate - Ray on Racing from 148.ca

The Great Debate

Ray Cotolo
December 7, 2013

The countdown to 2014 is upon us, with many industries beginning to engrave their best performers of 2013 into written history. In harness racing, there are two of these Oscar-like events, the O'Brien Awards and the Dan Patch Awards. The O'Brien Awards is the year-end ceremony where Canada honors the best of their racing season and the Dan Patch Awards is the same, except an American rendition.

The debate as to who should receive the top honor of Horse of the Year in the Americas has flooded social media as early as August. The two candidates this year were Captaintreacherous, the three-year-old colt pacing champion, and Bee A Magician, the three-year-old filly trotting champion. The deal as to who would win this coveted award was to be determined last weekend on the undercard of the Fall Final Four at the Meadowlands.

It was a field day for the press once Captaintreacherous officially dropped into the box for the Free For All Championship last Saturday, being the first three-year-old in nearly a decade to face older horses in stakes company. A win in this race would have surely brought everyone to the Captain's crew, since he would join names like Niatross and Jenna's Beach Boy, who both defeated older horses in their soph-years.

The main arguments people had against voting Captaintreacherous Horse of the Year were that he skipped the Little Brown Jug and was defeated by Dedi's Dragon, a horse who hasn't dazzled among the top tier of stakes competition. The excuse for the major upset provoked by Dedi's Dragon was that Captaintreacherous had an issue with his blood. Otherwise, Captain's evident will to win and warrior nature are what gained people's support in the earlier parts of the season.

Bee A Magician entered into the same race card, except was facing her own division in the Moni Maker Trot just one race after the Captain's outing. The goal for the Richard Norman-trainee was to take the victory and remain undefeated for the year, going for seventeen wins in a row. Bee A Magician already had a cavalcade behind her, most joining after her romp in the Hambletonian Oaks.

Bee A Magician received her fair share of criticism as well, mostly because she appeared capable to defeat the male trotters, but chose to race only against her own kind. Bee A Magician's talents were also questioned by the caliber of racehorses she has been competing against, where she was the best fish in a not-so-great pond. Of course, going undefeated this season, setting a world record in the Del Miller Memorial and crushing her foes in the Hambletonian Oaks is what brought her to many voters' spotlight.

Captaintreacherous put up a fight in the Free For All championship, getting away fifth around the first turn, being briefly three wide due to interference caused by the break of Dynamic Youth. He then tracked Pet Rock's cover towards the half, racing second over en route to three-quarters. Everything seemed so perfect for a historic moment, until Captaintreacherous stalled in his bid once fanning off his dull cover. He then was enveloped by a stampede charging for minor honors and finished sixth, yet only about 2 lengths off of the leader. It was not the race fans were hoping from Captaintreacherous, but he raced game against the best of the best, which he shall meet once again come 2014.

Although Captaintreacherous was taken out of the Horse of the Year election, a ton of social-network love came towards the Free For All champion, Foiled Again, who wasn't urged for any part of the stretch while the other nine pacers were under an all-out drive. Foiled Again has blossomed at the end of this season, winning in gutsy fashions and most importantly, defeating division leader Pet Rock and claiming Breeders Crown supremacy.

The main story of the nine-year-old gelded son of Dragon Again this season is how he passed $5 million in career earnings and is close to being the richest standardbred in history. Called the warhorse of harness racing, Foiled Again received a brief praise to receive Horse of the Year honors. As one guy tweeted, it'd be a, "lifetime achievement award."

On Bee A Magician's side, she crushed her division yet again and went on to raise her win record to seventeen in a row. It was once again the tremendous ease driver Brian Sears showed that showcased the filly's talent. She won by about a length at the line over the division's runner-up, Ma Chere Hall.

Overall, Horse of the Year honors is favored towards Bee A Magician. She leads in earnings in the entire trotting division, as well as being second in earnings out of all twelve divisions (she is second to Captaintreacherous, who leads with $2,055,033 in seasonal earnings). Bee A Magician is a world champion, undefeated this season and has raced with such proficiency, that she has the support of those who were won over early in the season and now those who disembarked on the Captain's ship, and instead went with the buzz that the "queen" has created.

That queen, is Bee A Magician.

Ray Cotolo, long time follower of the harness racing industry, is a presenter on North American Harness Update.

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