I love when we agree.
Its like you took this straight off my tounge.

She ran well. Easily defeated weak competition while running faster than the grade 1, older horse stake later in the card. I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't think she ran well or would downgrade her race other than the slugs in against her. As a matter of fact her slugs and Zenyatta's slugs matching up might be an interesting race.

I was thinking the same thing earlier. Im willing to bet she wont even run in the Classic this year

For the record, I'm more of a Rachel-guy than a Zenyatta-guy. But the last two times Zenyatta's camp has said, "here we are, come get us" (BC and Apple Blossom), Team Rachel has done the ducking.

"We don't run on synthetics" and "we're not fit enough right now." WTF?

Being 20 for 20 should have no bearing on this years horse of the year voting.
Honestly the more you look at Zenyatta's PP's, the more of a joke it it that people think that these races that she is winning should have any bearing on the HoY voting. The same crappy schedule shouldn't be rewarded, it should be scorned.

I hear you, but would the voters really take a third straight undefeated season and the biggest non-TC race of the year win against the other contenders and deny her again?

There is an equal amount of blame to be assigned.

A filly that races 5 times, 4 against fillies and once against colts doesnt really have much of a case unless there is absolutely noone else to vote for.

I'm not totally disagreeing with you guys. HOY probably should be based on 2010 alone. That being said, should Zenyatta take her second straight BCC on dirt over the other big guns, thus completely validating her unblemished record, would it? Absolutely not. C'mon. You boys watch and follow other sports, right? Players of the Year and MVPs are given for lifetime achievement all the time. Karl Malone got one. Charles Barkley got one. Barry Larkin got one...

I think as bad a rap as sportswriters get, they do like to recognize greatness when it's all said and done. No one is going to want to explain how a 20-20 mare with two BCC wins never won HOY for the rest of their lives.

(Do turf writers even vote for HOY? If not, who does? I honestly don't know.)

Amazingly enough there are over 200 people who get horse of the year votes and at least 15 of them actually watch races on a regular basis.

I'm not assigning blame (no pun intended) or anything like that, I just don't see Zenyatta ever running on dirt again. Given where her schedule is right now, and the 20 win mark being an obvious goal, I don't see why they would come East for the rest of the year.

i laughed when one of the tvg bozos called her the greatest mare ever. ever? really? and then they mentioned that even secretariat and man o war couldn't manage a win streak like hers....

i'm pretty sure they intend it to be that way, since it's voted each year, for one year. and let's see her run in the bcc before we bestow that victory on her.


and didn't tiznow win two classics in a row, and lose hoy to point given the second year? it's more than one race for the award people. the trophy goes to the bcc winner, not necessarily end of year honors as well.

Not at all likely to happen.... but Saratoga would be a really great place to settle question as to who is better..

I think it's more likely that I am on the Olympic team for shotput in 2012 than it is for Zenyatta to appear at Saratoga this summer.

Yeah, and Midnight Lute won the Sprint twice and lost the Eclipse the second time to a horse that didn't even run in the race (due to injury but still..)

Then of course the battle for HOY in 1978 when you have Seattle Slew at 4 and Affirmed during his TC year. That had to be a really tough situation.

Yeah Man o War and Secretariat would have struggled to win the Vanity....

When someone constantly has to tell you how great something is, it usually isn't that great at all. The disappointing thing is the trend of the top horses not running very much sucked, but the new trend of not running very much while do that rare running in soft races is even more troubling.

Frankel fashioned this crap(successfully)...I would hope he is resting in peace but unfortunately his daughter is making that difficult.

Unfortunately. And it wasn't as if he hadn't been successful doing it the other way either.

Freddy ...you know you would hammer that.

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.