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i can see that making a third set of awards would make sense, but i don't think poly will be around in future to make it worth the trouble. chrb has already said they jumped the gun, that it wasn't what it was billed to be, and that the tracks out there can return to dirt at any time. of course the cost would be prohibitive at this point.
at any rate, rather than argue who beat whom....who won more gr 1's? what do the stats for the year for both tell us? |
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Summer Bird outran proven synthetic horses yesterday. Gio Ponti could be good on dirt but since he's never attempted, he is,and should be labeled a turf horse. Einstein has proven himself on every surface and was outrun by Summer Bird. Girolamo was the only dirt horse in the field who had never tried synthetic and ran poorly. RVW was the only turf horse in the field who had never tried synthetic and ran poorly Regal Ransom was the only dirt horse in the field who had previously tried synthetic unsuccessfully. Zenyatta is a proven dirt horse who happens to be located in synthetic surroundings. It is a myth that turf runners are better on synthetic than dirt horses.The fact is that more turf runners attempt synthetics than dirt runners. Summer Bird was not good enough to win yesterday.It is much too convenient to use the surface as an excuse. |
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Zenyatta would make an awfully fascinating Dubai World Cup winner on the new synthetic surface in the inaugural running at Meydan. NT |
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My point is that Summer Bird (or any proven dirt runner) could be a successful synthetic runner if he was given more opportunities. Zenyatta runs her races in her locale which happens to be synthetic.If she was given more opportunities she could as she did in her only attempt be as good or better on dirt. |
Zenyatta would of beat them on dirt too.
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No one can say Zenyatta can beat RA on dirt because the match up will never happen!!!!!
How quickly people forget RA's accomplishments People only remember the last thing to happen. I am not saying Zenyatta wouldn't be a worthy HOY, but it's a bit presumptuous to assume Zenyatta would thump RA on dirt based off one dirt race. |
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Regardless of all the HoY bs I think it has been understated just how good of a ride Mike Smith gave her yesterday. That was flawless. Mike has been knocked a lot over the last few years and in some cases deservedly so, but that was one of the all-time money rides.
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Bullsbay? Macho Again? Yeah right freddy, Summer bird and Quality Road arent better than the Woodward field. |
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She really was a lot better then these Chuck..She gave Smith the ride all he did was stay out of the way. |
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I give up. |
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SB may not be Seattle Slew but he is far better and more accomplished that Bullsbay or macho Again or any other from that bunch. |
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I give him credit for winning with the best horse..Arent you suppose to win if you have clearly the fastest horse? |
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NO way could RA lay back and win No matter what the pace is and Zenyatta has done just that. 14 times she went to post any did just what it took to win, if they went 5 lenghts faster she would of won. Zenyatta got 1 to 3 pounds where RA got 5 and just hung on to win. Zenyatta closed the final 1/4 in 22 and change to overhaul this years Classic field and they were not backing up. I would of liked to have seen her run at Churchill Downs, but it rained and her owners didn't want to take the chance. Jess Jackson stayed at home and played it safe, even though RA has shown she will run on synthetics. Jerry Moss said today that Zenyatta was done racing after what was her biggest highlight and when asked if he thought she should be horse of the year he said "She is his horse of the year and thats all that counts to him and his wife." Pure Class! |
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I think the debate is great for our sport. At least we are in the headlines for something very positive.
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As far as Bailey goes, him allowing himself to get caught up in the moment with no clear reasoning behind his statements, forgetting all the amazing accomplishments by RA, ALL YEAR LONG and saying they were ducking and anointing Zen HOY immediately after the race has me questioning his sanity. |
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Believe me when I tell you that Zenyatta had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with RA not running in the classic PERIOD.......... The decision was set in stone before the purchase was even made. It absolute Tom Foolery to think otherwise |
It's funny how everyone's bashing Jess Jackson now for ducking tough spots but that's exactly what the Zenyatta camp did prior to this race. Take that for what it's worth.
It really boils down to whether you think the BC supersedes everything else that happens during the year. I don't. NT |
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I think it’s a close call with regard to who should win horse of the year. There is no doubt that Rachel had an incredible year. Zenyatta, on the other hand is the first filly or mare in history to win the BC Classic. I think that is a very big deal. In addition, she was undefeated this year. With regard to who the better horse is, I think Zenyatta is probably the better horse at 1 ¼ miles. Rachel never ran 1 ¼ miles. The furthest she ever ran was 1 3/16 miles in the Preakness and she was getting very tired at the end of that race. If Zenyatta was in that field, I think she would have won fairly handily. In the Woodward, Rachel was getting very tired and barely held off Macho Again. If Zenyatta was in that field, I think she would have easily won that race. And if Rachel would have been in the BC Classic yesterday, I don’t think she would have beaten Zenyatta. So that’s 3 different races this year, where if they would have faced each other I think Zenyatta would have beaten her.
I think that at 1 ¼ miles, Zenyatta would beat Rachel almost every time unless it was a totally paceless field. If it was a field with no speed, where Rachel got an easy lead in :49, then maybe she would have a chance. And I think Rachel would have a good chance to beat Zenyatta in the slop. We know that Rachel loves the slop. Whether Zenyatta would like the slop is anyone's guess. On the other hand, I don’t know if Zenyatta could have beaten Rachel in the Ky Oaks. Rachel freaked that day. She loves Churchill. I don't know if Zenyatta could beat her at Churchill in a relatively paceless race. It still is hard to tell just how good Zenyatta is because she always wins so effortlessly. Even yesterday, she wasn’t all out. She broke totally flat-footed and took well over an 1/8th of a mile to switch leads and ended up 15 lengths behind on a :24 1/5 opening quarter. Everything went against her, yet she still won relatively easily. She just does what she needs to do. Once she hits the lead, she pulls herself up. She doesn’t win by 20 lengths like Rachel, so she doesn’t look as spectacular as Rachel. But as spectacular as Rachel looked against easy fields, when she ran in races where the fields were a little tougher and the pace was faster, she barely won. But in fairness to Rachel, she’s still only 3 years old. She’s not even fully mature yet. So I think it’s tough to compare the two horses. If RA and Zenyatta faced each other tomorrow, I highly doubt Rachel would beat Zenyatta at 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 miles if there was a fairly fast pace and Rachel was close to that pace. When Rachel has been close to fairly fast paces (on fast tracks not sloppy tracks), she has barely held off mediocre horses. Does that prove that Zenyatta is better? Probably, but not necessarily. Maybe Rachel could show a new dimension if she needed to. |
The RA camp was ducking synthetics, they weren't hiding from the Classic field.
It would be the equivalent to Cigar ducking a turf race because he's not a turf horse. |
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I would be more inclined to vote for Zenyatta as HOY if her connections had done at least one more thing that was ambitious. Sitting in cozy Cali all year long running in garbage races does not an HOY make. They chose to run her on the biggest stage but unfortunately by the time they did there had already been a bigger star. NT |
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