2010 Eclipse Award Champion Older Male

Major races: Breeders' Cup Classic, Stephen Foster Handicap, Whitney Handicap

Awards: 2010 Eclipse Award for Champion Older Male

Post Career: After retiring from racing, Blame stood at stud at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. He has sired numerous stakes winners and has become a successful breeding stallion. Some of his notable offspring include Marley’s Freedom and Nadal.

May 2 - Blame

This guy will always be the bad guy to some people. He's the only horse to beat the queen, Zenyatta. In her final race, an attempt to repeat as back-to-back winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic, in one of the greatest stretch duels in BC history, Blame won the Classic under the twin spires of Churchill Downs and ended Zenyatta's 18 race undefeated win streak.

The following January, I painted at the Eclipse Awards at Gulfstream Park in Miami. I had two paintings: one of Blame and one of Zenyatta. He had just beaten her, so it seemed fair to think that he might take the Horse of the Year title as well. Zenyatta won the popularity contest with the writers and took home the Horse of the Year honors, while Blame had to settle with the Eclipse Award for Older Males.

I had a feeling that if I painted Blame beating Zenyatta at the Eclipse Awards that I'd have to fight my way out of Gulfstream so the painting of Blame is him beating another superstar - Quality Road.

Blame is best known to most racing fans as the horse who beat Zenyatta. That single race shaped how he is remembered, but his career was far richer than just one Saturday in November. He was a bay colt born in 2006 and bred by Claiborne Farm together with Adele Dilschneider, two of the most respected names in the American breeding business. His father was Arch, a top Claiborne stallion who won the Super Derby and produced many top runners. His mother was Liable, a stakes placed mare by another Claiborne sire, Seeking the Gold. Blame's pedigree was so deep with Claiborne stallions that the people in Paris, Kentucky, often joke he was Claiborne in horse form. He was trained by Al Stall Jr. and ridden in his biggest races by Garrett Gomez.

His career on the track was a steady climb upward. He won his maiden race at Keeneland as a two year old and stepped right into graded company at three. From the 2009 Super Derby forward, he finished either first or second in every graded stakes he ever started. As a four year old in 2010, he was at his best. He won the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga, and the Clark Handicap, three Grade 1 races at three different tracks. That set him up for the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic, also at Churchill Downs, where he came up against Zenyatta, who entered the race undefeated in 19 starts. The mare came charging down the lane in her usual late surge, but Blame had built up enough of a lead that he held on to win by a nose. It is one of the most replayed finishes in Breeders' Cup history. After the race, Blame was named the unanimous Eclipse Award winner as Champion Older Male of 2010, with all 238 voters listing him first.

Blame retired with nine wins from thirteen starts and earnings of more than 4.3 million dollars. He went home to Claiborne Farm to stand at stud, where his career has continued to add to the family legacy. He has sired multiple Grade 1 winners, including champion mare Nadal, Senga, who won the French Oaks, Marquee Prince, and the popular runner Fault. His daughters have also become top class broodmares, helping Blame stand out as a sire of sires and a sire of mares both. Blame was never the flashiest horse, and he never made noisy headlines outside the sport, but he remains one of the more complete racehorses of his era. He came up at every level he was asked to, he beat the best mare anyone alive had ever seen, and he kept his name in the spotlight long after his racing days were over.

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