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The 1st Annual Stretchie Awards

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Better than the Golden Globes. More respected than the Oscars. A higher TV audience than the Tony Awards. And less of a farce than the MTV Video Music/Movie/Reality TV Disaster Awards. It's The Stretchies!

These aren't the actual Stretchies. The real ones are still in the design stage.
These aren't the actual Stretchies. The real ones are still in the design stage.
Matthew Mallett

The Eclipse Awards may be tonight, but the 2012 racing season is not fully completed until the announcement of the 1st Annual And Down The Stretch They Come Racing Awards, henceforth to be known as The Stretchies.

What are The Stretchies? Simply TFTribe and I voting on an assortment of racing categories and moments of the year. We each submitted three names in each category ranked as 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Points were assigned (10, 5, 2), tabulated, and VOILA! - The Stretchies were born.

Without further ado (and the absence of any acceptance speeches)...

And the winners are:

Award Winner
Horse of the Year Wise Dan
Older Colt Game On Dude
Older Filly/Mare Groupie Doll
3YO Colt I'll Have Another
3YO Filly Questing (GB)
Turf Colt Wise Dan / Little Mike
Turf Filly/Mare Zagora (FR)
Sprint Colt Trinniberg
Sprint Filly/Mare Groupie Doll
Juvenile Colt Shanghai Bobby
Juvenile Filly Beholder / Executiveprivilege
Race of the Year Preakness / Ladies' Classic
Best Jockey Dominguez /Bejarano
Best Trainer Dale Romans

and the full voting by Tribe and myself for each category:

1st (10 pts.) 2nd (5 pts.) 3rd (2 pts.)
Award Matt Tribe Matt Tribe Matt Tribe
HOY Wise Dan Wise Dan Royal Delta Little Mike Groupie Doll Game On Dude
Older Colt Wise Dan Game On Dude Game On Dude Shackleford Shackleford Fort Larned
Older Filly Groupie Doll Groupie Doll Royal Delta Royal Delta Zagora (FR) Awesome Feather
3YO Colt I'll Have Another I'll Have Another Paynter Bodemeister Bodemeister Paynter
3YO Filly Questing (GB) Questing (GB) Grace Hall Grace Hall My Miss Aurelia My Miss Aurelia
Turf Colt Wise Dan Little Mike Little Mike Wise Dan Point of Entry Point of Entry
Turf Filly Zagora (FR) Zagora (Fr) Marketing Mix Marketing Mix Tapitsfly Winter Memories
Sprint Colt Trinniberg Trinniberg The Lumber Guy The Factor Caliabrachoa The Lumber Guy
Sprint Filly Groupie Doll Groupie Doll Dust and Diamonds Groupie Doll Musical Romance Musical Romance
Juvenile Colt Shanghai Bobby Shanghai Bobby Normandy Invasion Power Broker Power Broker Overanalyze
Juvenile Filly Beholder Executiveprivilige Executiveprivilege Beholder Kauai Katie Dreaming of Julia
Best Race The Preakness Ladies' Classic BC Classic Met Mile Met Mile Cigar Mile
Best Jockey Dominguez Bejarano Smith Napravnik Napravnik Velasquez
Best Trainer Romans Romans Motion Pletcher C. Brown Baffert

Yes, TFTribe voted for Groupie Doll twice in the Sprint Filly category -- she was that good.

We also selected our favorite track, best bet and worst bet of 2012:

Favorite Track

TFTribe: "Prairie Meadows -- (I know, right?) Made three bets there all year, all double digit odds, all wins."

Matt: "Santa Anita -- For some reason, I picked some good winners at SA this year."

Best Bet of 2012

TFTribe: "Poseidon's Warrior, Vanderbilt Handicap -- True story, I was trying to beat Shackleford in the slop and settled on him since his mud stats were ok, but I also figured his name couldn't do anything but help his chances while swimming through all the crap. I'm an idiot, but this time it worked."

Matt: "Mizdirection, Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint -- Simply unbelieveable that one of my best plays in 2012 was a turf sprint. I loved this filly when the entries came out for this race, especially her ridiculous 20/1 ML odds. Sadly, I didn't get anywhere near 20/1, but I had a good amount of cash on her when the gates opened."

Worst Bet of 2012

TFTribe: "Daddy Long Legs, Kentucky Derby -- Ugh, terrible bet. I'm an idiot, like usual it didn't work."

Matt: "I played in the EMD cash tourney on Gottstein Futurity day, got off to a good start, was near the top of the leader board, and then simply threw about $120 away on successive bets at DMR and EMD. I knew better but went on major tilt for the better part of 30 to 45 minutes. A simply horrible stretch of wagering."