If only I could have gotten my own picture that day at Santa Anita. It was a beautiful November afternoon. The sky was a marvelous blue and the crowd was enormous. So big was the crowd in the grandstand that day at Santa Anita that getting a picture of Zenyatta would have been the most difficult of tasks. Certainly more difficult than predicting her victory that day. I left my camera at home. Getting her picture that day she beat all the best males the world could run her way would have been great. I could have added it to the pictures I took of Rachel Alexandra the day she opened her 2010 campaign.
You see, after the BC Classic I wrote as if Zenyatta had already won Horse of the Year honors. Surely she was going to be the chosen one. But it wasn’t to be. No, the ‘conventional’ racing gods felt that Rachel Alexandra was the one worthy to be called 2009 Horse of the Year. Afterall, she did beat the boys herself including ’50 to 1′ Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and the eventual Belmont winner Summer Bird.
I was at the Fair Grounds the day Rachel opened her 2010 campaign. It was the New Orleans Ladies Stakes — a race that was written for her. And in a twisted tale of fate, Zardana, a horse sent by trainer John Shireff’s as if on a ‘scouting mission for the Queen,’ wore down the reigning Horse of the Year and gave Zenyatta her victory by proxy — as if to prove a point. Surely the outcome wasn’t what Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen had in mind. But, it just may be the only satisfaction Zenyatta will ever get from the filly who might have been favored more because of where she raced then who she beat.
On Friday, Zenyatta will attempt to win her 16th straight race in the $500,000 Apple Blossom (G1). at Oaklawn on a conventional dirt surface where she had hoped to meet ‘this Horse of the Year’ in a race she’s already won. I’m sure that the connections of Zenyatta knew that a very lucrative meeting with ‘the champ’ would be at risk when they sent Zardana down to New Orleans. It wasn’t about the money.
In my mind, I’ll always have a picture of Zenyatta. You see, it’s the one where she’s rolling home down the middle of the track wearing down Gio Ponti in the final yards of the 2009 Breeder’s Cup Classic to remain undefeated. It’s the picture of her in the winners circle as the first filly or mare to win a race written to bring together the best horses from around the world in a test of stamina. And it’s the one I have of her being crowned Horse of the Year. Oh, if only.
Zardana wears down Rachel Alexandra to win the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds
A previous post here on BugBoy.net was written as if Zenyatta had already won horse of the year honors. The headline reads “Zenyatta wins Breeder’s Cup Classic”
Emotions sometimes get the best of sports fans and captivated by Zenyatta’s spectacular victory in the BC Classic. She beat a nice group of males to become the first female ever to win the Classic and feel she was every bit deserving in spite of Rachel’s stunning victories.
The Eclipse awards has a history of being conventional so it may be just coincidence but Rachel’s victories were unconventional over a conventional surface. Zenyatta’s victories were unconventional over an unconventional track.
They may meet sometime this year and if they do it’ll be good for racing.
However, it may never happen because after watching Rachel Alexandra race in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes, a race that was written in the racing books for her, will go down as many of the more recent previous horse of the year recipients to have gone down in defeat in their returning race after the award ceremony.
We witnessed the race live from Fair Grounds race course and have pictures of the race as Zardana wore down the defending 2009 Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, and we hate to say we told you so but Zenyatta is a MONSTER MOM who defeated a much better group of older males in the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita in ’09.
Jess Jackson will probably spend the next year avoiding Zenyatta rather than risk having her be defeated by a superior broodmare which is the way Calvin Borel explained his understanding from conversations he had with the connections of Rachel Alexandra.
Nevertheless, she is a nice young horse who will go on to win many more races in her career as she develops to earn her way into the record books. In 2009 she went undefeated by beating the once in a lifetime Mine that Bird upset of the Kentucky Derby — a race won because the jockey was better then everyone else under the conditions.
Her biggest win was at Saratoga which sealed the deal on Horse of the Year and befitting of a dramatic return in New Orleans we congratulate Jess Jackson, Steve Asmussen and most importantly Calvin Borel who may be sitting on his third winner real soon.
Somehow it all makes sense why we waited to write this post.
Summed up in a word Zenyatta was spectacular.
Her win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic was a sight to see. And, for horse racing fans everywhere who made her the 5-2 favorite over a pretty decent group of males she scored the victory to secure her Horse of the Year honors.
On Saturday she raced herself into the record books as the first female to win the BC Classic and she will likely retire undefeated at 14-0. She beat Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, and the Belmont winner, Summer Bird, as well as several older and very accomplished runners like Einstein, Gio Ponti and the European runner Twice Over.
Of course, Horse of the Year honors will be determined by racing heads and sports writers who get an official ballot but our ballot is in and it’s for Zenyatta.
As much of a fan as we are of Rachel Alexandra the way Zenyatta won the BC Classic was exhilarating to witness. As they turned for home she moved up on the inside to about 7th place and the six males in front of her were all but done. Mike Smith waited just long enough to get outside and that’s when Zenyatta went to work and wore down Gio Ponti for the historic and final victory of her spectacular career.
Now we wait for her offspring.
