Crist: Zenyatta needs to earn title on track
 

http://www.drf.com/news/zenyatta-must-earn-title-track

A couple snippets...

If, however, Zenyatta loses the Classic to Blame, Lookin At Lucky, or Quality Road, she does not deserve to be the Horse of the Year for 2010. She may well be the Horse of the Last Three Years or Distaffer of the Decade, and she might be the only horse in the field who ultimately is elected to racing’s Hall of Fame, but she would not be the most accomplished racehorse of 2010.

It would indeed be a historical curiosity if Zenyatta never won a Horse of the Year award despite three sensational campaigns, but it would be neither unprecedented nor disparaging of her achievements and her secure and rightful place among racing’s greatest fillies. Dozens of other great females from Shuvee and Ruffian to Bayakoa and Personal Ensign were never Horse of the Year, nor should they have been.

Ut oh....



I think she will get it though this year...after all, look what she has done for racing :)

Not to mention sign makers

If Zenyatta wins the BC Classic, she deserves all the accolades and all the awards that can be laid at her feet.

I think she can pull it off.

I've always been and shall remain a Rachel fan but never at the expense of dissing Zenyatta.

Tear

Statements like this make me root against her, and I don't want to.

It's one thing for people outside the sport to look at her record and go "DURRR SHE NEVAH LOST BEST HORSE EVAH" but for people who follow the sport to say things like "if she wins the Classic, every award she gets and everything that's said about her is justified", it's frankly mindboggling. It's wildly untrue.

This is nonsense.

It's common sense which doesn't apply with this fanbase. She has her shot on the track, so no excuses for her, Blame, Lucky, and Quality Road.

Some people will argue the shape of a sidewalk crack and go to the trouble of picking fly dirt out of pepper. It's my opinion, so CHILL.

Just to confirm, your opinion is, essentially, if she wins the Classic, she can rightfully be called the greatest horse ever. If she loses, then it's up for debate. Beating Blame and Lookin at Lucky will catapult her into the top spot.

STILL

I couldn't agree more with Mr.Crist. I think he is spot on.

If Zenyatta is greatest horse ever for winning 2 Classics, then what is Tiznow?

Tiznow didn't dance.

Same here.


--Dunbar

if somehow she does win it will be the Classic everyone will remember. Like last year I'll be going against her at the windows but will be applauding should she win.

BTW a waiter w/no clue who knows I play told me there's a 'girl' horse who always spots the field 100 yards going on BC day and she won't do that this time. LOL

I said then she's dead and the look he had was like a puppy getting hit w/a bat by his owner

Like the 40th greatest horse ever

Aw - yes - words are cut apart with scalpel precision. I didn't mean to imply that she would deserve the title of the "greatest horse ever". Greater than Secretariat or even CIGAR? Not in my opinion. Rather, if she wins the Classic, she would justifiably deserve 2010 Horse of the Year, a future spot in Racing's Hall of Fame, perhaps classified as the greatest or one of the greatest mares of all time.

I'm not being coy or veiled in sarcasm when I say that I am prepared for the groundswell of overexuberance by all those people who have felt that she had gotten robbed the previous two years in the Eclipse voting. And, suffice it to say, IF she does wins the Classic, a great many "people who follow the sport" in a much higher ionosphere in experience and knowledge than me will be laying all kinds of laurels at her feet ad infinitum and ad nauseum for months, if not years, to come. This mare will be hyped until one's mind goes numb. Some may even go so far as to say she's "the greatest", but I'm sure their peers will set that record straight.

So gird your loins and keep lots of Di-Gel on hand for those of you who think differently.

I think she's going to win, and it will be fun to watch the celebration and the endless flow of words using new-found phrases of praise for her accomplishments.

And, beating Blame, Looking at Lucky, Quality Road, and all the rest of the boys on dirt a couple thousand miles away from her comfort CA homebase is an accomplishment. It would be the greatest accomplishment of her career if she can pull it off.

Most of the people who are fanatics of Camp Z don't really know **** about racing in the first place.For instance:http://www.horseracing.com/blog/20-and-done-means-no-1
Dude was definitely hitting the crack pipe a little too much!!

Those people are morons. She didn't deserve either HOY.

Too late. This is already happening.

Once again, this has long been happening. They're very difficult to 'set straight'.

This is true, but it says far more about the yawnworthy campaigns she's run than it does about her accomplishment.

if zenyatta deserves hoy should she win the classic, does that mean super saver deserves top three year old? he did win the derby, the biggest race for 3 yo colts...so i guess it's not even up for discussion.
it seems just a few years back, there was a lot of criticism of azeri getting hoy for her campaign-but zenyatta supposedly deserves to win this year regardless of what she does next saturday?!

I don't believe she deserved HOY over Curlin and Rachel, but there's been a lot of knock down drag outs over those two issues. I'm still convinced that Jerry Moss was told in advance that she didn't win HOY last year and abruptly announced "she's out of retirement". I can't stand that man but like the rest of Z's connections.

Yup, it's been happening, but it's going to get worse - much worse if she wins the Classic. And, there will be the usual mean-spirited "Rachel who?" mentioned time and time again in the celebration of the zealots.

They shouldn't have been so candy ass about her campaigns the last three years. They never gave Z the chance to really prove what she could do up until now. I applaud their decision to take her to CD.

So much harm and bad feelings because of set-up camps for and against these two fabulous females. It's worse than the Hatfields and the McCoys. What a shame!

I still love the RAITCH but I wish the best for ZENNY - safe journeys to, during, and back home again.

Absolutely correct. Unlike those in the RA and QR camps, of course, who do know s h it when it comes to racing. :rolleyes:

F L U S H (as in the toilet -- and, as in their seasons)

NO YOU STUPID BECUZ SUPER SAVER LOST!!!!!

We essentially agree, although I think you're wrong that it's still Rachel fans vs. Zenyatta fans. With Rachel's ho-hum performance this year and her being retired, it's much more become Zenyatta fans vs. reality.

When did "Horse of the Year" become synonymous with "most accomplished racehorse"? I always thought it meant "best racehorse".

You prove you're the best through accomplishment. If Z loses next week, she's not the best.

i can't understand why rachel still gets brought up at all. she had a good year, but she's certainly not done anything this year to warrant any attention. and i fail to understand the point behind zenyatta fans bringing rachel up when zenyatta gets mentioned. if she didn't deserve hoy in their minds, why do they still use rachel as a measuring stick?

I agree with what you're saying, but there's still a great deal of animosity toward Rachel for depriving Zenyatta of HOY last year. Rachel shouldn't be in the equation, but she still is. It's strange that there is this rivalry between two horses that never met on the track.

Why would you think that? Was Favorite Trick the best racehorse of 1997? Charasmatic the best horse of 1999?

It was just another reach.

An ad just came on during Letterman for the 60 Minutes piece on Zenyatta, and they say "Is she the greatest filly of all time? You bet she is!"

I gagged. She's the dancing queen, but c'mon. There's more to do here. This before she even runs in the Classic at Churchill. If she loses, it takes the thunder out of their proclamation, so I understand why CBS's doing things this way. Still waiting on that 60 Minutes special on Gallorette. Doesn't mean Zenyatta's not a Hall of Famer. It's just ridiculous hyperbole right now, aimed at scoring viewers.

"Zenyatta deserved to share last year’s award with Rachel Alexandra, but voters were deprived of that option. "

http://www.drf.com/news/zenyatta-must-earn-title-track

Does everyone agree with this part too?


I agree with everything Crist says for the record.

I'm just dreading the Hall of Fame drama that's gonna go down unless they change the rules. Both will be up for it at the same time, both deserve to be in, and yet voters might have to pick between them. Only one female horse at a time right now, isn't it?

When I said she deserved all accolades, I left out the word plausible.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6999875.shtml

"If she pulls this off, in my book - of course, I'm a little bit one-sided - but I think…she could be the greatest horse of all time," Smith says. That kind of career would put her up there with the most famous Triple Crown Winner, Secretariat, considered one of the greatest ever. But Smith thinks his mount could be even better than Secretariat after a Breeder's Cup win.

Bob Simon reports on Zenyatta's quest for horse-racing history on "60 Minutes" this Sunday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

It's really difficult to say they are different in most cases. How do you claim to be the best racehorse without accomplishment? And it's Horse of the Year, not of the day, month, or multi-year period.
The Breeders Cup often serves as confirmation for the US champion or as a tie-breaker between evenly matched contenders, but it shouldn't replace accomplishments of an entire campaign. That's why you don't see great ones like Ouija Board winning the award when they stop in for a day, and why Goldlikova isn't a contender this year.

Again, all this is common sense which continues to escape a certain group.

zbest
 

so will it be called the 60 minutes jinx?
sports illustrated better run a cover for her need to counteract that superstition
there could be some bad ass mojo going around
and it is running on halloween night
dirt,hype,travel,the boys Z is getting the worst of it:rolleyes:
love the cup glad its getting hype hope owners invest more in this dying sport ot we'll be dogging each other out about which horse is going to win he merry go round at the state fair