The Year in Review

Final 2009 Standings/Money Leaders (Paulick Report)

The Grade 1 Winners of 2009 (Steven Crist)

2009 Turf Awards (Brisnet) [Excellent review of turf runners]

Beyond Rachel and Zenyatta (Fillies First)

A Look Back at 2009: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (Jennie Rees)

Two Special Ladies Shared the Limelight (Jay Privman)

Best Performances of 2009 (Jon White)

2009: A to Z (Claire Novak)

A Year in Images (Hoof Blog)

An Academic Look at Racing in 2009 (Brock Talk)

2009 Not So Good for Business (Paul Moran)

Looking Back at 2009 (Horses and the Law)

The Year in Review (Superfecta)

A Memorable Year at the Race Track (Duke Hunt)

Praying for Memory Loss (Not to the Swift)

Top Five Races of 2009 (They Are Off)

Racing Memories, 2009 (Brooklyn Backstretch)

Photo of the Year (Michigan-Bred Claimer)

What a Year: Part 1, Part 2 (Michael Veitch)

Highlights from the Prairie (Quinella Queen)

The Year in Review (Jeremy Ponk)

The Year That Was (Paulick Report)

Readers Choose Zenyatta as Best of ’09 (Thoroughbred Times)

HANA 2009 Year in Review (Horseplayers Association)

Top 10 Newsmakers of the Year (Thoroughbred Times)

The Deciders: The Best Decisions of 2009 (Jay Hovdey)

My Moments of the Year (Claire Novak)

Top 10 Stakes Races of the Year (Brendan O’Meara)

Zenyatta’s Classic an NTRA Moment of the Year Cinch (John Pricci)

Ten Best NY Races: #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1 (Nick Tammaro)

Play of the Day Year in Review (Power Cap)

They’re Off: 2009 Offy Awards (Steve Haskin, Lenny Shulman)

A Weak 2009 Derby Field (Jon White)

The Best of a Big Year (John Asher)

The Decade in Review

The Best of the 2000s (Bob Ehalt)

The Best of the Decade, from A to Zenyatta (Art Wilson)

Horse Racing in the Noughties (Greg Wood)

Best of the Decade, Best Non-Champs (Steven Crist)

Best and Worst of the Decade (Dan Illman)

The Top Five of the Top 10s (Vic Zast)

Memorable Horses of the Decade (Nick Kling)

Horses of the Decade: Part 1, Part 2 (Gowanus Baseball)

A Troubling Decade (Gary West)

Horses of the Decade (Farewell to Kings)

Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra Cap Quite a Run (Joe Drape)

Best of the Decade: A Series (Steve Haskin)

Innovations of the Decade: #5, #4, #3, #2, #1 (r2collective)

Dubai Moments of the Decade: #10-#6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1 (Pat Cummings)

The Best Flat Races of the Decade (Chris Cook)

Racing’s Cruel Decade (Nick Kling)

The Decade in Racing (Sports Illustrated)

2000s Generous to Delaware Racing (Jack Ireland)

Most Influential Horses of the Decade (Jeremy Plonk)

Deck the Halls with the Passing Decade (Bill Christine)

Top 10 Racehorses I Shot this Decade (Sarah K. Andrew)

The Best of the Decade (Zipse at the Track)

Mentions of Racing in General/Sports Year/Decade Lists

Five Memorable Moments in Sports: Mine That Bird (The National)

LA Year in Review: #6 Zenyatta (Daily News)

2009 Top Sports Stories: #3 Rachel Alexandra (Times-Union)

Top 10 Sports Stories of the Decade: Barbaro, ‘Rachel’ (Baltimore Sun)

AP Female Athlete of the Year: #2 Zenyatta (Associated Press)

Decade’s Top Sports Stories: Funny Cide, ‘Rachel’ (Mark McGuire)

Ten Best Stories of 2009: Rachel Alexandra (Don Hunsberger)

Decade Retrospective: 2007: Barbaro (Deadspin)

Top 10 Sports Moments of 2009: #5 Rachel Alexandra (Time)

Top Sports Breakouts Since 2000: Funny Cide (USA Today)

The Year Ahead, Predictions and Advice

Salutations for 2010 (Horse Racing Business)

Things We Don’t Need to See in 2010 (Jay Cronley)

Wishes for the Decade Ahead (Alex Waldrop)

Eleven Things I Want to See in 2010 (HANA)

Racing Wish List, 2010 (TrackMaster)

Dos and Don’ts for Racing in 2010 (Alicia Wincze)

Of the 460 nominees to the Triple Crown, 61 have made the switch from a synthetic surface to a fast dirt track. Of those, 47 improved or replicated their synthetic form on dirt.

Details in this Google doc. Only horses who raced primarily on synthetics at the start of their careers and who switched from such a surface to a fast dirt track are included (so horses whose single dirt starts were over the Monmouth slop of the 2007 Breeders’ Cup are not represented). Also, I made no distinctions between synthetic surfaces and didn’t consider class or distance changes. Generally, results were marked positive (P) if a horse showed an improved BSF and/or finish position, negative (N) if the opposite, and consistent (C) if it ran +/- 3 BSF and/or showed similar placing.

The odds are good that the California synthetic surface form of Colonel John and Bob Black Jack will hold up at Churchill.

Related: Andrew Beyer rants:

But in the 3-year-old stakes races that precede the Kentucky Derby, the presence of synthetic tracks has not merely complicated the game. It has made rational handicapping judgments almost impossible.

Now, now, Andy, this isn’t so. Synthetics are different, but not inexplicable.