They can't still "track down and beat her" if that was their sole plan?

When the year is over she will have flown over the Rockies 2-3 more times than Quality Road or Rachel has this year, that's the reality of it.

I'll take the under.

Hah! Awesome.

So instead of recognizing the absurdity of the Rockies excuse, you choose to embrace it, as though it is an actual marker of greatness for a horse's yearly campaign?

Do you think they'll attempt to break the Donner Party's trans-Rockies record? I doubt it, but maybe I'll have to eat my heart out if she shows up out of town before the BC.

Oh, and don't forget the air quality in the greater Los Angeles area. That's gotta be a real life-drainer.

Forget Grade 1 races, Zenyatta's proving she's great just by standing in her stall.

Just to be fair, Tim Wilkin wrote in his blog yesterday that the Hirsch might not necessarily be their first choice for Zenyatta.

http://blog.timesunion.com/horseraci...rk-maybe/4694/

NT

I don't embrace it, I wish she shipped in for the Foster. Whether she ships now in the summer or in the autumn it doesn't matter to me as long as she is at the BC Classic in good form. I do see a logic in acclimating her in the east prior to the BC at either Keeneland or Belmont Park, and this may make more sense to connections in keeping her fresh rather than making one extra trip out east. It all comes out the same, if this is the case.

Sounds like it's Del Mar to me - which is just fine for me :)


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...mar-in-august/

What do you think this is, moron, some pseudo-sport like golf or bowling where old fat guys can still compete with younger dudes on a given day?

All of these equine athletes will eventually lose a step or two if they hang around long enough … especially if they're past the age of five.

Pleasantly Perfect was another high-quality relatively lightly raced animal. Do you believe he was as fast in the latter part of his 6yo campaign as he was as a 5yo?

Pleasantly Perfect was a bad example. I always thought as much if not more of his 3rd place finish in the BC Classic in 2004 than his win in 2003. He received a dreadful ride from Jerry Bailey in 2004 and was really the only horse who did any running from off the pace in a merry-go-round race.

He also won the Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic as a 6YO, so saying that he was better as a 5YO is kind of stupid.

NT

Pleasantly Perfect may well have been as fast the latter part of his 6YO campaign. He won the freaking Pacific Classic in August and - oh no! - lost to Ghostzapper and Roses in May in the Breeders Cup Classic. That is a perfectly retarded comparison.

Sounds like more teeter-tottering to me, probably the result of quick backlash for the carbon copy gutless SoCal distaff campaigns of '08 and '09.

Note in the Hirsch 3-peat article in the DRF, Shirreffs was already on the defensive, as he was apparently called out for pointing for that race next even though he's been an outspoken critic of the Del Mar racing surface since the installation of Polytrack there:

"I said I didn't want to train at Del Mar," he said. "There is a difference."

He's just covering his ass as far as HOY goes. Announcing the Hirsch probable start even before they run the Vanity (which was supposed to be the Stephen Foster back in early May---more teeter-totter) had to have marginalized Team Zenyatta with more than a few Eclipse voters.

Pretty sure that comparing PP's figures from '03 to those earned in his races leading up to the '04 BC will tell a different story, geniuses…

Yes, the 5yo Pleasantly Perfect was awesome.

He nearly got within 5 lengths of Congaree in the San Antonio and Big Cap. He ran one time prior to the '03 BC off a 6 month layoff.

Actually, it was the perfect example.

Smooth Operator consistently proves himself inept.

Take out that awfully weak version of the Classic in 2003, and there's nothing else about Pleasantly Perfect's 2003 season that was superior than his 2004 season. Then again, there's nothing about Zenyatta's 2009 or 2010 seasons to suggest to me that she wasn't at her best in 2008.

Right, because he won the BC at SA it had to have been a better year, who cares what happened up to that point, right? It didn't matter either that he had a perfect trip in a race that unfolded the exact way he needed to be successful. That's a much better performance than a race where he ran against the grain of the track while chasing a horse who you yourself have called a monster. Genius.

And that's not even taking the rest of his 2003 and 2004 campaigns into question.

NT

But a lot of people will still freak out if she continues the current path and doesn't win. Much like last year, Horse of the Year isn't decided in a day. What happens if Quality Road continues to set track records all over and goes 6 for 6 before sitting out the Breeders Cup? I'll give it to you that if Zenyatta won the Classic at Churchill on dirt, it would probably trump anything QR could do short of setting 3 more track records, but which would really have a better year.

You sound like a person that would rather grasp at anything to see Zenyatta lose rather than to truly see her tested at her best. If she races in N.Y or Keeneland and then stays out east, where she will just ship on down to Louisville, wouldn't this suffice your longing to see her to race outside of California, or are your motives one of just seeing beat or beaten up prior to the classic.

I think this post proves who is actually inept. :D

Am I the only who thinks it's more likely that George Bush wins a third term as US president than Zenyatta ever races in the Eastern time zone again?

What from my post highlighting some of Shirreffs' now perennial politicking in the press suggests any feeling or judgment I have with regards to Zenyatta as a racehorse?

If you do a search, I was probably one of the earliest to suggest that the only way we'd see Zenyatta back east was for her to be stabled there for an extended period.

That doesn't mean that Team Zenyatta get's to merely mention campaigning her in a serious manner and get a free pass when things "don't work out".

Talk is cheap.

And for the record, I don't care if she were to be "beaten up" prior to the BC Classic. It's not the only race that counts.

Just a second, the greatest horse ever to look through a bridle finished third in that BC Classic.

If she races in The Beldame or Jockey Gold Cup prior to the BC Classic, I think these type of threads will be a distant memory. I'm all for it and I truly hope it happens.

I'm pretty sure the term "hung" was invented to describe the various efforts of Ittasak.

He was a giant among horses.

This was the point of my initial post.

You're being took in with this NY BS, just like you were with the Rockies excuse.

Team Zenyatta has no intention of running in NY. They've been saying that they "might" for 2 years running now.

The only question remaining is whether or not she starts again after the Hirsch prior to the BC.

But seeing how there's a race available to her in CA actually called the "Zenyatta" and it is likely to be run at her home track of Hollywood Park (remembering Oak Tree is considering running its meet in Inglewood this year), I think its a safe bet she will make a start. If for no other reason than running in a race named for you trumps even a day of bobbleheads.

If I were reading this from a NYRA point of view, I would bend over backwards to get her whatever they needed to make this happen, as Cella tried to do with RA for the AB. I do recall Sheriff's saying he tried calling their office to inquire about stalls or something and they just referred to him to look it up on the website. I would say a personal touch would be more successful if they want Zenyatta at Belmont this fall.

There is no reason for them to go there.

Quality Road's races should count more than Zenyatta's because they are bigger and more important races. It used to be that a filly had to have an extraordinary year in a year where no male horse stood out (like last year). Zenyatta's campaign the last two years should only have held merit if there simply wasn't anyone else to give it to (like the year Kotashann, a turf horse, won). The award voters got it right last year because the breeders Cup shouldn't be the end all. RA was clearly ahead on the ballots leading into the BC and while she may have been a victimized in the final count by emotion and a little "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. But this year there is a clear cut leader in the older horse category who is following a traditional path who should be the HoY if he wins out regardless of the BC.

Eliminate the detention barns, and they might think about it.

I'd think Team Zenyatta would be bending over backwards to try and win the HOY that has eluded them the last 2 years.

They seem hell-bent on playing the arrogant "you come to us" card which is not the way racing works. No one wants to play ball with Zenyatta, so no one's gonna come. Go outside the comfort zone, and one or two are going to get a little brave and take you on. And if the horse is as good as she appears, then she'll mop the floor with them, even if she's not as sharp under the non-ideal conditions. Even a loss, were she to take on too much all at once, would probably enhance her reputation if she performed admirably.

But Team Zenyatta doesn't show their confindence or their arrogance on the racetrack, they only show it in the press.

Zenyatta is a fantastic racehorse, but thanks to connections, she's a meek champion.

I was swept away in the moment at the BC when she won and as time passed to look at it objectively I thought "Which would be more unfair, denying RA or Zenyatta?" I felt the right choice was made.

I feel we all are getting ahead of ourselves just a bit. Ultimately what everyone wants to see (I would hope) is a race with Zenyatta,RA,QR and Rail Trip all at the top of their game. (At least in my fantasy world)

If that means the connections of Zenyatta decide that in the best interest of their goal of winning the BCC she should take the most comfortable Grade 1 F&M races in their own backyard then so be it. If she wins the BCC and is denied HOY there will be plenty of people freaking out with Moss at the top of the list. Personally it's no skin off my back.

This weekend's races are just awesome. Topped off by a Mare who makes every race she runs in dramatic.

Sounds like Sheriffs has been chatting with Mullins on the subject.

Its more that Jackson already experience with Tiago that he doesn't want Zenyatta to experience. I don't blame him on that.....they should get rid of those barns.

Still a long way to go for the china doll known as QR

Pretty funny that Pletch has him back on the shelf … again

Holding off that killer (MM) at Bel must've wiped him out


Hell, they even shortened the Suburban for him this year and he'll probably still stay in the barn … LOL

And Pletcher, Asmussen, and Dutrow would object to this? I don't ever recall Sheriff's having a positive, this stuff gets stranger by the day.

oh the irony

Mullins being the most obvious anti-NYRA detention barn detractor out there. No, I guess you're right, I can't see the connection between two West Coast whiners.

Just when it appeared you couldn't be any more idiotic.

yes, ironic. he's a huge fan of a six year old making her 17th lifetime start while bashing a horse for being on the shelf....wow