Put down the pitchforks and torches: That lone Eclipse vote for Icon Project over Zenyatta turns out to have been a simple case of human/mechanical error.
The DRF editor who cast the errant vote meant to select Zenyatta in the Older Filly or Mare category -- he in fact did vote for her as Horse of the Year. But when putting in his choices in the online balloting on deadline, he inadvertently typed his second choice into the first-place box and his third choice into the second-place box.
"I'm so sorry," the voter said. "There is no way I meant to do anything but put Zenyatta on top."
Given the voter's obvious (from his HOTY vote) intention to cast his ballot for Zenyatta, the Eclipse Award Steering Committee is in the process of re-certifying the results so that history will properly record that Zenyatta was in fact a unanimous selection as the champion Older Filly or Mare of 2009.
--The voting for Outstanding Owner was by far the most fractured, with the victorious Godolphin Racing receiving just 26.5 percent of the vote. Eleven different people or entities received votes, though only four candidates received more than 20 votes.
Each of the three voting groups went in different directions. The National Turf Writers gave 39 votes each to Godolphin and the Mosses; DRF chose Godolphin; and the NTRA picked Juddmonte narrowly over WinStar:
