Let the voting begin!

Thanks to everyone who voted for which pictures I should enter into the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance 2010 photo contest. The overwhelming favorites were "The Pied Piper of Arlington" and "Zenyatta and John Shirreffs."

Today is the first day where you can vote on all of the entries for the contest. You can vote every day through the 25th of December, and the top ten will then go into the final round of voting.

Here is the link to the finalists, where you can vote for your favorite 10: http://tbablogs.com/Photos.php

I was very excited to find several of my friends' photos included in the contest, many of which you will remember from my stories in this blog. :-) Good luck, guys!

I appreciate everyone's support! Happy holidays to everyone this season.

Here are your two favorites from my batch:

Help!

My entry fom 2009 was well-received, but not enough.

Since I don't have a photo in contention for an Eclipse Award, pretty much all my hopes are banking on a win in this year's Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance 2010 photo contest. Though this isn't exactly on the same level as far as prestige goes, it's still a venerable contest among pro photographers, as well as amateurs. Last year, I gained quite a few votes (but not enough to clench victory) for my popular picture of Rachel Alexandra winning the Kentucky Oaks, but this year I don't have one stand-out photo that screams "I WILL WIN FOR YOU."

So this is where you come in. What follows is a set of pictures I think are my best chances for bagging this contest. Honestly, I've seen a ton of photos by my fellow photographers that have blown me out of the water this year, so I'm not expecting to win, but I have a few good pictures that stand a shot, so what the heck? My thinking is that the most sentimental photo is likely to win, as most people judge with their hearts, not a fundamental knowledge of what it takes to capture a knock-out horse racing photograph. (And when it comes to sentimental photos, I think Zenyatta has the edge this year.) With that in mind, you won't find a lot of win shots or photos taken on the physical track in those that I've selected for your consideration. I may be wrong in this idea, so prove me wrong if this is the case by voting for something else.

Without ado, here are five photos I've taken during 2010 that I am considering submitting. I can only submit TWO photos to the TBA contest. Please help me make this difficult decision by voting on your favorite two in the comments below.

 

Like a Prizefighter



Fiji: Water of Champions

The Pied Piper of Arlington

To the Winner's Circle!
(Lisa Borel is carried over a sloppy track to meet husband Calvin Borel after winning the Kentucky Derby.)

Zenyatta and John Shirreffs

Entries for the TBA photo contest are due next Friday, December 17th. I will post my final entries on the blog after I've tallied everyone's vote.Thanks for your help!