The Best Horse? Arrogate. HOY? Chrome

Even though they were separated by a mere half-length at the wire of Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic and the winner carried four fewer pounds than the loser, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) was clearly the better horse. Not only did he beat 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), he got the worst of it with the way the race developed. Chrome was allowed to get comfortable on the lead, getting to the half in :47.15 and then opening up by 1 1/2 lengths after six furlongs had been run in 1:10.96. Those blaming Victor Espinoza for not opening up on the field more than he did are wrong. The horse got an easy trip and the only way he was going to get beat was if there was a super horse in the race capable of running him down.

Turns out there was.

We know now that there was nothing fluky about Arrogate's win in the GI Travers. The race seemed to have come out of nowhere, the 13 1/2-length win, the 122 Beyer number, all that from a horse that was 11-1 and considered the second best horse in the race from his own stable. He would have to be every bit as good–and maybe even better–to beat a true superstar like California Chrome in the Classic.

There was a point in the Classic when it looked like it wasn't going to happen. California Chrome appeared to be getting away from his younger rival and on his way to adding another notation on his Hall of Fame plaque. But it didn't happen. He got beat. And he got beat by a better horse.

Travers or no Travers, it was inconceivable to most that there could be a horse residing on this planet that was faster than California Chrome, he of the six-for-six record, the wins in Dubai, the effortless romps in the GI Pacific Classic and GI Awesome Again. It's not that anyone was wrong about California Chrome or that he was overrated. This was the case of a great horse being beaten by a greater horse.

“(Arrogate) was going to have to be a super horse to beat Chrome…and that's what we saw,” trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning.

So who is Horse of the Year? The best horse or the horse who accomplished the most? I don't think that's even a hard question. California Chrome should be Horse of the Year.

The Horse of the Year, obviously, can be the sport's best or fastest horse, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. The title of the award says it all. It's for the horse that was the most exceptional throughout the racing season. When California Chrome was winning the GI Dubai World Cup, Arrogate hadn't even raced yet. When California Chrome was winning the GI Pacific Classic in a canter, Arrogate had done nothing more important than win a “non-winners of two other than” allowance at Del Mar, and that was a win that came in a three-horse field.

Arrogate's year truly began Aug. 27 when he astonished the racing world with his mesmerizing performance in the Travers. It ended Nov. 5 in the Classic. He is the “Horse of 70 Days,” the time frame between the Travers and the Classic. Seventy days of greatness is not enough to be named Horse of the Year, not when California Chrome accomplished everything that he did, starting with his win in the GII San Pasqual way back on Jan. 9.

There's a precedent for this. Blame (Arch) won the 2010 Classic over Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}). It was the one and only time they had met and, though his win was nowhere close to dominant, he did beat the great mare. For Blame, it was the conclusion to a very good year that also included victories in the GI Whitney H. and the GI Stephen Foster H. But the voters gave the Horse of the Year title to Zenyatta. They could not make a credible argument that she was better than Blame, but they definitely had a case that her overall body of work that year was better than Blame's. Her being awarded Horse of the Year was also an obvious nod to what she had meant to the sport, her charisma, her popularity. Six years later, California Chrome is the male version of Zenyatta.

It was a tough afternoon for the “Chromies,” who saw their hero go down to defeat. But there is a very good chance Chrome is going to get a shot at redemption. California Chrome is already scheduled to race Jan. 28 at Gulfstream in the $12 million GI Pegasus World Cup. Juddmonte Farms, which owns Arrogate, did not pony up the $1 million needed to make Arrogate eligible for he race. But there are 11 people besides the California Chrome group holding admission tickets to the starting gate and most of them don't have a horse that has so much as a prayer to win a race like that. Not only will many among that group be looking to sell their entry fee, they're probably going to have sell it on the cheap.

Even if Juddmonte has to pay the $1 million, the math is very much in their favor. The winner of the race gets $7 million (which does not include a slice of the handle, sponsorship fees and media rights). Essentially, they can bet $1 million on Arrogate to win the Pegasus World Cup at odds of 7-1. That's as good a bet as anyone will ever make.

Not that it will have any bearing on 2016 awards, but count on a rematch and another outstanding race. These are two great horses…but only one can be Horse of the Year. Arrogate is the horse of the moment, the horse of the Breeders' Cup, even the horse of the second half of the year. He's all that and more. He's just not Horse of the Year.