Rachel Alexandra Wins Horse of the Year Award

The first filly to win the Preakness Stakes in 85 years, Rachel Alexandra picks up the 2009 Horse of the Year award. (AP Images)

The Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel played host to this year's Eclipse Awards and as many predicted the award for Horse of the Year went to (drum roll please) Rachel Alexandra. In total, the three-year-old filly received 130 first place votes, while Zenyatta (the only other horse up for the award) took 99 votes.

Accepting the trophy of the evening for Rachel Alexandra, owner Jess Jackson had this to say: "As long as Rachel is able to run and compete at the top level, we look forward to running at least another year."

What's interesting is that Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta have never raced each other and if you were to ask Zenyatta's owner Jerry Moss which of the two is more deserving of the Horse of the Year award -- well, see for   yourself: "Zenyatta's never lost, she's perfect. Nobody's beaten her on the racetrack, so they beat her by proxy as far as I'm concerned."

Zenyatta won the Eclipse Award as the top older female for the second straight year, while Rachel Alexandra was voted top three-year-old filly. Steve Asmussen, Rachel Alexandra's trainer, took home the award for (you guessed it) top trainer.

The Eclipse Awards are voted on by members of the National Turf Writers' Association, the Daily Racing Form and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.

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