The Smug Pessimist: You gotta Zenyatta!

It was all Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic Saturday at Santa Anita Racetrack for the 26th running of the World Thoroughbred Championships.

photo : NY Times

And it was the first time a filly has ever won the Classic.

Also a compelling fact: Zenyatta has never lost a race. She is 14 for 14, undefeated and more than likely on her way to retirement and no doubt the leading contender for Horse of the Year honors.

In the post parade, Zenyatta reacted to the thousands of "Girl Power" signs in the crowd and did her typical expected prancing thing. She has this crazy little prancing thing she does all the time. She walks around, strutting her stuff - looking like a Tennessee Walking Horse. She paws at the ground constantly with her right foot. Perhaps she is counting out her numerous wins for the crowd, I don't know. But it is hilarious to watch. She is very full of herself. Maybe she knows that at over 17+ hands high, she towers over the rest of the competition. In comparison, Secretariat was only 16+ hands high. She's big, folks.

The race had a forboding start when Quality Road (#12) had absolutely NO desire to load in the gate. He jumped, he bucked, he kicked... the jockey dismounted....he was backed out, put back in for more combative protesting...he was blindfolded to no avail....then he was taken out through the front when it was clear there was no way he was standing in that gate come hell or high water. He bumped the gate in several places, was checked out by a vet, and ultimately scratched to become the first horse in the history of the race to scratch at the post.
Whoa.

So all this time, the other twelve horses were hanging in the gate.... so, as is customary, they backed every horse out again, reloaded, and then they were finally off.

Zenyatta didn't really break too well, starting off on the left foot instead of the usual right. But her jockey (Hall-of-famer Mike Smith) settled her down off the pace and they sat back in last place for quite some time till she finally got down to business, flying up on the outside to pick horses off one by one.

And these were quality horses - the best from the year in racing. Including Mine That Bird (the Kentucky Derby 50-1 longshot winner), Summer Bird (Mine That Bird's half-brother and the winner of the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup), Gio Ponti (the leading American turf horse this year), Colonel John (winner of the '08 Travers and Santa Anita Derby) and Einstein (7 year old multiple grade 1 winner and the richest horse in the race)...as well as some leading contenders from Europe.

The only glaring omission from the race was the great 3 year old filly, Rachel Alexandra.

Rach.

Her owners opted not to race her because they don't like the Pro-Ride (synthetic) surface.

Rachel has been a tour de force in her own right this year, winning the Preakness Stakes, the Kentucky Oaks, the Haskell Stakes, and the Woodward against older males).

Zenyatta is by Street Cry out of a Vertigineux mare. Her owners named her after the early 80's record by The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta.

I remember this album and always thought it was the stupidest damn name for a record ever. Sounds pretty good for a horse though, right?

FYI - Owner Jerry Moss is the co-founder of A&M Records - the record label of countless famous acts, including The Police. Imagine that. He also owned the 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, who was named after Sting's son.

owner Jerry Moss, jockey Mike Smith, Ann Moss, and trainer John Shirreffs.

In all reality, it should be a two horse race in the Horse of the Year honors.

To some, Zenyatta has not proven herself simply because she has not run out of the state of California and has only raced on synthetics. Whereas Rachel has run on 8 different tracks in 6 different stakes, against both the girls and the boys (including a race against older males), and on synthetic as well as traditional dirt tracks. She has also set many stakes records - including 3 fastest times and two largest winning margins.

That being said...

Rachel has lost - 3 times. But she only landed off the board once though. And we must consider she is only three and has raced 14 times. (Rachel started racing at age 2).

Zenyatta is 5 years old but did not race until she was 3.
She has won all 14 of her races. It is most likely that she raced her last race today, and will be retired. I mean, what else does she have to conquer? She won the premier race for fillies and mares last year by winning the 2008 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic, so they upped the ante this year and ran against the boys. A fine thing to do for all us crazy horseracing fans.

So what about Horse of the Year honors?

Case in point - any horse that wins every start is a freak. It just doesn't happen, especially in this day and age, and not in such considerably impressive fashion. Zenyatta has an astounding turn of foot, and crushes her rivals in such a profound manner that watching her race becomes almost a religious experience.

Rachel is pretty much equally as awe-inspiring, and if I'd tell you I wasn't taken aback at her formidable wins this year I'd be lying. When she won the Preakness Stakes I was practically screaming my lungs out in glee.

But Rachel didn't come to the Breeders' Cup. And I like an analogy I read in the Daily Racing Form today, which basically stated - "If you won the AFC Championship game you wouldn't not go to the Superbowl cause you didn't like the field where it was being played." Touché.

I have to concur.

To not have brought Rachel to California for the Championships was perhaps a tactical move by Jess Jackson (owner) in part. My feeling is that if any other horse besides Zenyatta (with the possible exception of Summer Bird) had won the Classic, surely Horse of the Year would be in the bag for Rachel Alexandra. For seriously... if a horse such as Awesome Gem or Girolamo would have won, they really would have no case for H.O.T.Y.

Just a thought.

So Jackson says she's done for the year, and that they'll be no showdown between the filly powerhouses - which is indeed what any racing fan worth their salt wanted to see.

The excuse about the synthetics is just that. An excuse. She already won a race over a synthetic track at Keeneland last year.

I do think Rachel needed a rest after her vigorous campaign this year, but I still believe she absolutely should have made every effort to get to the Breeders' Cup for that race against Zenyatta. Hey, if you've got it, bring it!

When interviewed by the press, Zenyatta's owner said he felt it important to be there, not just for the race itself, but for the horse because "she deserved it" and for the fans, because they've shown her so much love (obsession) in her career.

So, how should one vote if one were to consider HOTY accolades?

If it were me, I'd go with Zenyatta.

As impressive as Rachel was all year (and I was totally leaning her way until I found out she wasn't coming to Santa Anita), Zenyatta put it all together where it counted the most.

After all, these are the World Championships, people.

To me, you gotta be in it to win it.

Fab filly Zenyatta is the only horse to have won two different Breeders' Cup races in two different years.

Another tiny factor for me would be that Zenyatta will no doubt retire now, and Jess Jackson has already said Rachel will race next year (and a big thank you to him for his stellar sportsmanship in that area - he also raced Curlin as a 4 y/o and wouldn't have had to...).

Give it to the Big Z!