Perhaps at no time in the long history of thoroughbred racing have females distinguished themselves, whether they were of the quadruped or two legged variety. If there was a two-horse Horse of the Year battle in the history of the game before, it probably came before any of us were born.

And never has the class of female race riders, or trainers, been as strong as it was in 2009. So this will be our chance to see whether you agree with HRI's assessments of so many talented horsewomen.

Further, you'll a chance to play owner-trainer and think about how you would map out a campaign for Rachel Alexandra's upcoming four-year-old year.

It was a year of individual achievement by our equine athletes, and the two legged stars, the riders and the coaches without whom there would be no greatest show on turf. We have listed the horses and horse persons we deem worthy of your consideration. If you disagree, you can write-in another.

The year 2009 won't soon be forgotten for events, the good and the not so good, that took place in the boardrooms, in the headlines, reflecting how racing's public faces and how the nature of the game has changed. This is in recognition of those.

HRI's Readers Choice Awards reflect the opinions of our readers about the state of the industry, now and in the immediate future.

We have broken down the HRI Readers Choice Awards voting into four different categories. We hope you'll go through them all and have some fun with us.

Use the below Categories and your voting process will have begun.

2009 HRI Readers Choice Awards Categories
The Races of 2009	Racing Women of 2009
Horses & Horsemen of 2009	State of the Game

Or if you want to have all the voting options on one page, Click Here (a little more scrolling involved). Voting will end on January 31, with the results posted soon thereafter.