Serena's Songs 3rd in the 96 Islen to Smart Strike under Donna Barton. That might have been a better effort than her 2nd by a neck in the Whitney.

You mention Congrats but not Southern Image?

How objective.

I'm sure Island Fashion was in the same multiple grade 1 winning form in '05 as she was at the beginning of '04.

Huh? Southern Image wasn't in the 2005 Big Cap.

I know. He won the '04 Big Cap with Island Fashion hounding him all the way to the wire.

I just found it interesting that you said the '04 edition was weak without mentioning him, yet saw fit to cite Congrats as a means of bolstering the quality of the '05 version.

She ran great in the Whitney from an outside post, but nobody's going to confuse that edition, won by Mahogany Hall (in which Peaks and Valleys and L'Carriere were the two favorites), as one of the better Whitneys of recent times.

I didn't list the runners of the 2004 Big Cap (Southern Image, Buddy Gil, Saint Buddy, Olmodavor, etc.) because the absentees were far better than who was there. She ran well, but I think it's a big stretch to suggest that Island Fashion's effort against that field was superior to Zenyatta's BC Classic.

LOL. True!

The thing is that the last few years the older horse division in this country has been so weak that fillies should take shots. Just as Lukas took shots with SS in relatively weak editions of the whitney and Islin. I couldn't blame trainers for passing up races against Cigar, Holy Bull. Skip Away, Formal Gold, etc.

she sure franked that form the next season when she kept running into a great horse in Flawlessly.

What do you mean by 'franked'?

Isn't comparing turf races and dirt races like comparing apples to oranges?

The consistency on this thread is pathetic.

It's debatable whether or not Southern Image was inferior talent-wise than Pleasantly Perfect. Certainly less accomplished and short-lived, but much more versatile and probably faster if speed figures are any measure.

I think her suck up third was mostly likely a total illusion, certainly I thought Pleasant Tap was running a very weak second to a dominant winner that day.

I think Jolypha was better on turf but if you think its dirt thats fine, I have no way to say it was not.

The thing about Zenyatta is that so much of her body of work is against weak competition and this year in cases in less than impressive fashion. I keep hearing she is the best filly since (fill in the blank)....but IMO she isn't as good as Inside Information and probably would have lost many races to Azeri had they run against each other. Serena's Song's best beats Zenyatta's as well. Jewel Princess beat SS twice and needed 114 and 116 beyers to do so. Bayakoa's best was certainly good enough to beat Zenyatta's.

hater

I'm am in good company at least

What do you mean by "suck up"?

A rapid early pace that led to a meltdown with a bunch of closers coming to pick up all the pieces?

Actually, Jolypha was positioned in front of both AP Indy and Pleasant Tap early in the race--only 3 lengths off a :45+ half, but had to alter course to the inside of Sultry Song at the 3/8s, allowing the other two to move past her approaching the stretch, yet she had enough turn of foot to split horses and get back in front of Pleasant Tap midstretch, only to hang late.

Partly.

He is also a coward... He continues to say he is voting for her, but he is betting with a friend that she wont win. Way to stand behind your opinion.

Are you talking about the caller who actually seemed angry and said he would give the game up if Zenyatta got it?

That's the very definition for the term "suck up third"

It's easy to dismiss Southern Image because of his frailty, but when that horse was good, he was pretty good. No shame in finishing second to him.