Zenyatta reclaimed the top spot in the final National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll of 2009.
The poll, which covers racing performances through Nov. 8, was released Nov. 9. Voters rate the horses on a scale of 10 down to one.
Zenyatta, winner of the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I), earned 181 total points and 10 first-place votes to take the lead from Rachel Alexandra, who got 176 total points and nine first-place votes.
There were similar numbers earlier in the year when Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra took turns at the top of the poll.
Rachel Alexandra topped the earlier 3-year-old poll and since late summer has topped the single Horse of the Year pool. In the Nov. 2 poll just before the World Championships, Rachel Alexandra had 18 first-place votes to Zenyatta’s one.
No other horses got first-place votes. Rachel Alexandra is the only horse in the top 10 that didn’t compete in the Nov. 6-7 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park.
The rest of the top 10 (in order) for Nov. 9 are Gio Ponti , Summer Bird, Goldikova, Conduit, Informed Decision, Life Is Sweet, Presious Passion, and Lookin At Lucky . Among those eight, Breeders' Cup winners were Goldikova, Conduit, Informed Decision, and Life Is Sweet.
In a Horse of the Year poll posted the morning of Nov. 9 at BloodHorse.com, the first 1,000-plus votes had Zenyatta at 61% and Rachel Alexandra at 39%.