I believe they have - and he is Jay Hovdey.

Easy, the attendance for Zenyatta's last race was about identical to the attendance for Rachel Alexandra's.

The attendance for Mission Impazible's last race was much higher than the both of them.

Yeah, you would think a bobblehead giveaway would be a lot more popular than a t-shirt giveaway.

this just makes me appreciate the upcoming race with blame and quality road that much more.

To be fair, the card at PID this weekend is probably more interesting than what Del Mar is running.

yeah,o.k.

PID isn't your cup of tea? Ok, try MNR. That Saturday card might be the best betting card in the country this weekend.

Rather than come east, she's gonna go into hiding in a convent, teaching a group of misfit nuns to dance. A bunch of marketing guys from Belmont find out where she is and try to horse-nap her, but she escapes, drawing the Pope for a final grand performance at a packed cathedral and causing the crowd to proclaim that Zenyatta is evidence that God exists. Can I get an amen? ;)

why does she HAVE to go east? why can't anyone come west? It is a grade 1 that's unrestricted, you know

False.

which part?

Definitely not "unrestricted" as I don't believe Zenyatta's gentlemen callers are allowed to participate in the Hirsch.

um.. okay.. obviously unrestricted was the wrong term.. Any FILLY OR MARE 3yo or up could enter..

Ummm....because no one wants to run on synthetic in California unless it's the Breeders Cup?

Almost all of the best Eastern dirt horses who went out there for the two Breeders Cup races struggled with it... most of them ran too bad to be true.

But look at a race like the Pacific Classic.

* 2009: A deep closing router with a turf sire - Richard's Kid .. took forever to get through his conditions racing on the dirt at LRL and Philly Park - he goes out there and wins the Pacific Classic.

* 2008: Go Between ... an Eastern turf horse from a stictly European female family - he made his first dozen or so starts in the East. He goes out and wins the Pacific Classic.

* 2007: Student Council ... an Eastern based horse sired by Kingmambo who made his first 20 or so starts in the East goes out there and wins the Pacific Classic.

All 3 Pacific Classics on synthetic have been won by slowpoke Eastern horses with turf pedigrees.... but those aren't the kind of Eastern horses that get any respect. The dirt horses that go out to Cal and bomb are the ones who get the respect.

Horses like Richard's Kid, Student Council, and Go Between would have been murdered by So. Cal dirt horses if they shipped out to try the Pac Classic before Poly was put in.

:tro::tro::tro:

I just find this argument a little shallow, when it was on dirt I cant recall a shipper the last decade.