Gone are the days when horses ran in the Met Mile crushed and 5 days later cruised to victory in the Belmont Stakes now 5 weeks is a short turn.

Rachel needs to be running in G1 9f's races against the boys till BC. Zenyatta needs to go in the Gold Cup against Rail Trip if she isnt going to ship. It's time for people to get that its about competing not compiling.

If Zen isnt going to ship and they are only looking for the record, that was the hardest race she'll be in all year. If you think her prior races were creme puff, wait till you see the next 3.

Absolutely he would hammer that.

and my fat a s s running in the 100 meters.

I dont understand for the life of me why they need to meet at 1 1/4? I guess its the "classic distance" by old school definition.. but it is DEFINATELY not the classic distance in this past decade. they should meet at 1 1/8. its both horses' best distance.

CSC drives me nuts with his "classic distance" crap like it means ANYTHING.

You could have probably just stopped there and still ended up with a fairly accurate sentence.

really my love?? Of course going in the Cali instead of the Vanity would have done tons of good. People might have actually gained some respect for the connections.. and Z could have proved a ton.

I'll say it. If QR & Rachel are in the BCC and Z beats them, there is no way Zenyatta doesnt get HOY.

If QR wins all sorts of big races this year, and doesnt run in the BCC, and Z wins that race... I still think Z gets HOY.

But here is my prediction:

Zenyatta gets beat before the BCC and is retired the next day and doesnt make the race.

Rachel takes on males before the BCC and loses and is pointed to the BC Distaff and wins that race and wins Champ Older Mare and is then retired.

Quality Road wins the BCC and HOY and then off to stud.

Really?

Are you absolutely certain that "1 1/8" is Z's "best distance"?



…running 1 1/4 miles on dirt is regarded as the definitive test of American thoroughbreds. – Andrew Beyer, 12/26/09


Thank you, Mr. Beyer

The proper time and place for Z and RA to hook up is clearly the BCC at CD … where (hopefully) they'll be part of a nice full field of the best runners in the world.

Incredibly, the reigning 'horse-of-the-year' has yet to prove herself at the CLASSIC DISTANCE…

I agree with you on Z being likely better as the distances get longer.

However, RA did win a classic when she took the Preakness. Technically, she's proven at a classic distance.

Her old man was a fine classic distance runner too … well, at least until he ran into some legit 10f runners like PP and CR.

Nine furlongs was clearly his best distance … and I suspect that it's hers as well.

I almost missed this with today's excitement, it does matter. In American racing almost all the greats have won at 1 1/4, that is not unless you want to be associated as the greatest miler, sprinter..ect..

and you could substitute that with 1 1/2 a few decades ago.

Doesnt change the fact that racing has changed over time.

Did I miss the time Zenyatta won a 1 1/4 dirt race?

Know what else that doesn't change? That this argument is purely one borne of opportunism.

Obviously, they couldn't make this argument until Rachel's brilliant campaign forced the connections' hand to try to sneak in the backdoor to HOY, deciding at the last minute to negotiate 10 furlongs in the Classic.

Were it not for Rachel having done what she had done up to that point, it seems awfully unlikely that Zenyatta would've ever tried 10 furlongs, and then we wouldn't be having to listen to this disingenuous nonsense like it was some part of their master plan to prove her greatness, you know, getting that win a the all-important 10 furlong distance. They didn't run her at 10 furlongs because they felt the need to get her a win at a "classic" distance, they ran her at 10 furlongs because some 3yo filly had just run ridiculous circles around their scared, pathetic campaign up to that point and it was the only chance they had to win.

FFS, they'll try anything, just to see if it sticks.

in american racing dirt and turf have always been the benchmark for greatness. zenyatta is the greatest synth runner we have seen. im okay with that being her legacy. just not an all time great. are you okay with that also?

this is a PERFECT responce to the CSC's Classic distance post!

:tro:

To top all that off, if Sea of Stars runs in the BCC, Zen doesn't.