JeremyPlonk

Please join us at Horseplayerpro.com all Derby Week, Mon-Fri, for live chats from Louisville with our handicappers. We'll be available from 1-2 pm eastern daily and will announce an evening hour chat as well in the coming days, to be determined around my social schedule!

The free chat room we've created only requires that you have Java on your computer, which most everyone already has. There's nothing to install. Just give yourself a chat name and come on in. There will be an active link at the top of our homepage, Horseplayerpro.com, when the room is open.

If it's well received, we're actively considering keeping the chat room open on a regular basis for racing fans to have a place to come and mingle with one another.

Talk to you from Luh-a-vull! We saddle up to leave tommorrow.

JP

As a guy who makes his profession writing about the horses, I only wish that I had penned this piece. I have to say this morning's reading was one of the most captivating 10 minutes I've spent in a long time around this game. My hat is off to the author, and I highly recommend anyone takes a gander.

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/finalturn/archive/2009/02/10/If-I-Was-a-Horseman.aspx

It seems a lot of Americans got bitter in 2008 as the year progressed and racing fans were no different. Our interaction here went from negative to non-existant. While I'm not getting into any sort of politics here whatsoever, perhaps a little of the positive vibe going around the country will give us racing fans some bounce in our steps once again. I personally am starting to get some of that mojo back as the Triple Crown trail starts to unfold. I welcome all of our veteran bloggers back into the mix and challenge us to see if we can make some positive inroads. It's great to see some of the gang back in recent days!

Rave, thanks for the heads up on Desert Party. I'll be tracking the action from Dubai, because, well, what can possibly be any better than that?

JP

I want to at least be on the record in some sense of Google and state clearly that CURLIN is the Horse of the Year for 2008 in my eyes. A few 1+1=2 ideologists have surmised that I must be aglow over ZENYATTA. But, even in her greatness, I would cast a ballot confidently for CURLIN as Horse of the Year.

The 1+1 comes from my previous ESPN.com submissions "Don't Sleep on Zenyatta" and "Digging Below the Surface of the 2008 Breeders' Cup". In them, I outlined a theory that ZENYATTA could be Horse of the Year, written more than a month out from the BC. I also stated in my current ESPN.com column that I don't think the surface was the lone culprit for CURLIN's defeat in the Classic.

However, those 2 items do not add up to me thinking CURLIN is not the Horse of the Year. If you go back, you'll see my scenario for ZENYATTA had CURLIN losing the Jockey Club Gold Cup and avoiding the BC altogether...it would have had to been a blemish on his resume along with the backlash of a bad taste left from not competing at Oak Tree. CURLIN's win in the JCGC, open to all comers and a star-studded race in history, sealed his Horse of the Year to me. Nothing anyone could do or not do in the BC would change that.

I love ZENYATTA and am one of her biggest fans. But CURLIN was the best from Jan. 1- Dec. 31, and that's always been my standard for these types of discussions. While I think CURLIN was a step or two off from his peak form in Dubai, you can't say enough about how great he has been, and is.

And, by the way, I am not an Eclipse Award winner and have never once been approached by anyone in the industry inviting me to do so. I have voted for AQHA World Championship honors in the past, however.

Fans, just a reminder you can watch the live simulcast feed of the Breeders' Cup free today and Saturday at http://www.breederscup.com/. There, I'll be live blogging all day with updates on how the track is playing, will-pay information that might tip overlays/underlays, etc.

Clockers Toby Turrell and Donald Harris from Horseplayerpro.com, who have been watching these horses train on-track every morning at SA and Hol also will be dialing me up live trackside to give up-to-the-minute reports on horses acting up, looking good, sweating, etc. Our Joe Kristufek also will check in with reports after talking with jockeys and trainers after the races to see if we can't glean some idea how the track is playing and what to expect.

For a free copy of our Horseplayerpro.com Saturday Workout Report for the entire Oak Tree/BC card (with comments on nearly every contender), please visit our website www.horseplayerpro.com and follow the link.

I welcome you to join me, and you can submit your questions in the BC.com Comments section of the blog and I'll be answering in real time. We're honored that Breeders' Cup has asked us to provide this service and want you to join us from work or from home today and tomorrow! We'll be live 30 minutes prior to the first BC race each day.

All the best,

Jeremy Plonk