Voting Open for Secretariat Vox Populi Award

For the third time, two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan is among six horses on the ballot for this year's Secretariat Vox Populi Award.



Created by Secretariat's owner Penny Chenery, the Vox Populi, or "Voice of the People," Award recognizes the racehorse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the public and gained recognition for the sport during the past year.



Votes, including write-in votes, can be cast at the Secretariat.com site until Dec. 17.

The winner will be selected on the equally weighted basis of the online poll voting and input from Chenery and the Vox Populi Committee, comprised of individuals from within and outside the racing industry. The winner will be announced on the website Christmas night and a public trophy presentation with the winning connections is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2015, at Santa Anita Park.



This year's nominees (in alphabetical order) are: 8-year-old veteran East Coast campaigner Ben's Cat, who posted his fourth consecutive win in the Mister Diz Stakes; California Chrome, winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and Preakness Stakes, both grade I; Game On Dude, the West Coast 7-year-old gelding who set a stakes record while becoming the first horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) three times; Shared Belief, the 2013 champion 2-year-old male who sustained his first career loss in his troubled trip in the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I); Untapable, the 3-year-old filly who won the Longines Kentucky Oaks and Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, both grade I; and Wise Dan, who won three grade I stakes and one grade II in four starts despite undergoing colic surgery.



Previous Vox Populi winners include the tenacious Rapid Redux in 2011, the wildly popular inaugural winner Zenyatta in 2010, and Mucho Macho Man  , the unanimous choice in 2013.