HRN Favorites: Our writers on racing's top 8 moments in 2019

Yes, we're about to remind you of the Kentucky Derby disqualification, and racing's safety issues can't be ignored. But what else ranks among racing's top moments in 2019? We asked our writers about what they'll remember most.

RELATED: Top 8 races and top 7 stories in 2019

And how about yours? Let us know in the comments...

Bee Buck: Winx goes out a winner

The amazing mare Winx finished her career in April of 2019 with a staggering 33-race winning streak in tact. The racing world hadn’t seen the likes of it, with the farewell race Randwick’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes. In typical Winx fashion, it was an event she’d won before, and Australian fans packed the place, there to send her off in style. There may never be another like her, now the world’s Grade/Group 1 wins record holder as she begins her next career as a broodmare. Those will be some highly anticipated foals, with the first one by, appropriately, I Am Invincible.

Candice Curtis: California Chrome sold

Nov. 20, 2019, is a day no “Chrome” will forget. That’s when news broke that California Chrome, two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Kentucky Derby winner, had been sold to Japanese interests for stud duty. Reaction was swift and ugly, as I don't think anyone involved with the horse imagined what vitriol would come their way with this decision. The troubling part to me is not that anything untoward will happen to our beloved Chrome, but that so many American fans have such a hatred for people who are different. Let's hope that in 2020, Chrome can be a bridge to understanding between cultures. After all, we already have one big thing in common: our love of racing.

Ryan Dickey: Brown sweeps Arlington Million day

Trainer Chad Brown, hardly a stranger to winning major turf races, took them all on Arlington Million day, sweeping four graded events on the card. Sistercharlie carried her winning streak to five Grade 1 races when she captured the Beverly D. (G1); 3-year-old Valid Point took the Secretariat (G1); Bricks and Mortar reigned in the Arlington Million (G1); and Cafe Americano wrapped things up in the Pucker Up (G3). The four Brown graded stakes winners earned a combined $1,285,800 on the day. His Arlington Million winner went on to take the Breeders’ Cup Turf, making him the Horse of the Year favorite, and his Beverly D. heroine’s under consideration for her second straight championship as top turf female.

 
Jarrod Horak: Michael Dickinson speaks up

Racetrack safety has been the top story in thoroughbred racing since the well-documented problems at Santa Anita Park earlier this year. Dirt surfaces have been under increased scrutiny, and Michael Dickinson, renowned trainer and president of Tapeta Footings, did not mince words at the University of Arizona's Global Symposium on Racing on Dec. 10. "The revolution against dirt has already started, but some of you haven't recognized it yet," he told the audience. Synthetic surfaces are proven to be safer than conventional dirt, and safety should be the No. 1 concern for everyone involved in the thoroughbred industry. Synthetic surfaces are not the only answer, and we should keep an open mind in regards to racetrack safely. We can always do better and should not be afraid of change. If 2019 proved anything, it’s that the days of kicking the can down the road are over. 

Jonathan Lintner: The Kentucky Derby DQ

Oh boy. It’s the singular moment for which 2019 will be remembered — on the racetrack, at least — with stewards’ 20-plus minutes of deliberations in taking down Maximum Security an unprecedented move. Not before this year had a Derby winner been disqualified for interference, with Maximum Security having veered out through the far turn at Churchill Downs. After all the conversation over the DQ’s merits, the outcome seems to have redefined only one horse. Maximum Security is a likely champion and War of Will went on to win the Preakness Stakes. But as for Country House, he’s become vilified by a sect of racing fans who still don’t support the DQ. Here’s to hoping that colt — who ran the race of his life to be second across the wire — gets another chance to prove his worth.

Reinier Macatangay: Mitole takes over

Heading into the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) back in April, Mitole sported an impressive 8: 5-2-1 record. But he hadn’t yet attempted any graded stakes races despite a four-race win streak including the Chick Lang and Bachelor Stakes. Those stakes wins came against 3-year-olds in his previous season.

Mitole also needed to face an older and battle-tested Whitmore over the slop. But the public trusted Mitole more anyway by making him the 2/5 favorite. Luckily for chalk players, Mitole answered all questions.

Mitole secured the lead early on with Whitmore flanking him in second, giving both horses a fair chance. Whitmore challenged for the lead around the turn and even put his head in front, but Mitole fought back in a straight line as Whitmore began to wobble and fade slightly in the stretch. Mitole won by 2 ¾ lengths.

For the win, Mitole earned career-best figures. It was also a passing of the torch moment in the sprint division, as Mitole went on to complete a fantastic year with wins in the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1), Metropolitan Handicap (G1), Forego Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Cup Sprint, while Whitmore still seeks another win.

Mary Dixon Reynolds: The Industry unites

This will go down in the annals as a turbulent time in the history of Thoroughbred horser acing. Santa Anita, with a mostly consistent climate, counts an unseasonably rainy winter among the myriad factors that led to a spate of catastrophic injuries in southern California. They also led the industry to do some self examination with its safety protocols and reforms, culminating on Nov. 19 when organizations such as NYRA, Churchill Downs and the Breeders’ Cup representing 85% of graded stakes in the U.S. came together to form the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition.

The industry-led effort seeks to enhance protections that already existed and to develop new reforms to ensure racing’s future. Without healthy horses and humans, there would be no sport, after all.

Those behind federal legislation called the Horseracing Integrity Act want to see the government maintain drug testing and oversight. That could happen in due time, and the Coalition has some supporters of the Integrity Act. But the Coalition is also an earlier step in the right direction seeing these major organization on the same side of the table to promote the well-being of the athletes.

Victor Ryan: Omaha Beach wins off the bench

Asking Omaha Beach to dust himself off from the rigors of the Triple Crown trail and return nearly six months later to beat one of the fastest racehorses in the land seemed an impossible task. Yet that's precisely what I witnessed on Oct. 5 when gathered along the finish line with my media brethren. Omaha Beach surged in the final strides to best the eastern invader and heavy 2-5 favorite Shancelot by a head in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G1).

The experience displayed just what is possible when a Hall of Fame trainer like Richard Mandella can partner with a Hall of Fame-caliber racehorse like Omaha Beach. As this 3-year-old colt leaves the racetrack much too soon — next month’s Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream Park will be his final start — the memory of the 2019 Santa Anita Sprint Championship won’t be easily forgotten.