2010 Eclipse Awards: Zenyatta Wins Horse of the Year

Zenyatta was named 2010 Horse of the Year at tonight's Eclipse Award banquet in Florida, narrowly beating out the horse she lost to at the Breeders' Cup, Blame.

Final Horse of the Year vote:

Zenyatta - 128
Blame - 102
Goldikova (IRE) - 5

A very surprising result, at least in my mind, as I figured there was no way Blame wouldn't win this award given his victory in the Classic.  Last year, winning the Classic wasn't enough to win HOY but this year a close loss was.  I'd love to see the breakout of voters with regards to which ones didn't vote for Zenyatta last year that did vote for her this year.

I'm also surprised that Goldikova got as many votes as she did for HOY.  I don't necessarily disagree that she is "pound-for-pound" the best horse in the world, and I have no problem with her as the champion female turf horse, but it's tough to envision a one-U.S. start horse as Horse of the Year.  But I can also understand why five people voted for her - she's one of a kind. 

About the only other surprise of the evening was Ramon Dominguez being named champion jockey.  Nothing against Ramon but I figured Gomez would win this one.

Congratulations to all 2010 Eclipse Award winners.

A complete list of winners can be found below the jump...