Most Absurd Things Said by 'Respected' Journalists About Zenyatta
 

I'm sure we can compile a pretty impressive list. . .

Jay Hovdey:

The mundane details of her eventual mating in the coming year are still being ironed out – much the same ado was made over the marriage of Queen Victoria –but the idea that Zenyatta could replicate herself by the mere act of insemination and foal birth is nuts. There was never, and never will be again, a Thoroughbred quite like Zenyatta.

http://drf.com/news/zenyatta-legend-takes-her-final-bow

Jay Hovdey:

In the meantime, take or leave this opportunity to say goodbye to one of the mostest hosses of a lifetime, and figure that Dylan was singing about her when he wrote the last part of "Eternal Circle" --

As the tune finally folded/
I laid down the guitar/
Then looked for the girl/
Who'd stayed for so long/
But her shadow was missin'/
For all of my searchin'/
So I picked up my guitar/
And began the next song

http://drf.com/blogs/aloha-zenyatta

Steve Haskin:

Many of us who cast our thoughts and opinions down on paper for a living have unashamedly left behind the pragmatic world of reason and logic and entered the sentimental world that Zenyatta inhabits. Once there, the compulsion to gush in public and paint scenes of flowering hills and colorful characters from My Little Pony is too strong to resist.

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse...rney-ends.aspx

Sounds like he wants to personally do the insemination. Does he go by Smooth Operator on this forum? :rolleyes:

Joe Drape (I could probably quote every line he's written about her):

The New York Times has a policy of not allowing reporters to vote for awards, but if I had a vote, I would cast it with the more than 72,000 people who gave Zenyatta a warm and raucous reception as she returned to the grandstand with a tearful Mike Smith on her back. . .

My vote is with the people. Zenyatta is not only Horse of the Year. She’s the Horse of a Lifetime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/sp...&ref=joe_drape

I'd post something from Pricci, but his website doesn't work.

now, why did the thought 'syrup of ipecac' suddenly enter my mind.....

Wow, I just had a Sumitas moment. :D

Okay well I don't know if this will count as it's not by journalist.

It is, however, by David Milch.

Respectfully, maybe not absurd but just a tad over the top? Teensy bit?

It’s the same sort of illusion felt if we are lucky enough to be blessed with children. When you see a baby you feel that whatever tragedy will ensue, at that moment tragedy is a stranger. The longer we are able to sustain that sense of a horse’s uncompromised, unqualified, transcendent excellence the more we become aware that it is an illusion, and every time that the horse seems to transcend the limits we know ultimately will express themselves, the more deeply we feel simultaneously joy and the sense ultimately that joy, for all its genuineness, is predicated on a sense of being and feeling which life will not sustain.

http://www.drf.com/news/final-and-deepest-gift-zenyatta

I would go with Jon White rating her as the greatest horse - male or female - since Spectacular Bid.

Joe Drape never makes any sense - Hovdey is only capable of fluff - and I have absolutely no idea what Haskin is talking about...I've never seen My Little Pony and it sounds kind of gay.

You look at the two most dominant sires of my lifetime - Mr. Prospector and Storm Cat ... Mr. P was a sprinter who struggled badly to get a mile in his Derby Trial defeat. Storm Cat was a precocious 2-year-old speed horse who was fragile and didn't have much of a career despite being trained by a guy who rushes nothing and ruins nothing.

You look at the popularity of 2-year-old sales - a couple thousand babies pressed into trying to run 10 flat 1/8ths under-tack every year. You breed - or pinhook - a horse like The Green Monkey and you hit a home run.

Our best turf horse is sired by faint hearted speedball Tale of the Cat.

Our horses now completely suck at getting a distance. Who's our top North American finisher from the last 3 Breeders Cup Classics? Tiago, Zenyatta, and Blame. That's really murderers row right there. Who's our last 3 Kentucky Derby winners? Big Brown, Mine That Bird, and Super Saver .. what a powerhouse collection of soundness and quality right there. The Belmont is an eye-sore most years. They either have to set a painfully slow pace to get the distance - or else a Jazil will win it.

The way the breed is trending - it's becoming a more impressive accomplishment to breeze an outright bullet 1/4 at Fasig Tipton Calder than it is to be a top class distance horse on either surface. Just because Zenyatta's a great mare - and can stay a classic distance in an era when few still can - it doesn't mean we have to pretend she's way more than what she is.

The only cynical comments I've seen concern some people's criticism of other's opinions. (nothing wrong with that)
Hard to find anything negative to say about Zenyatta and because she is honored at Hollywood Park today I think it's fair to say she was a remarkable racehorse who at least for me, made a rather dull year of racing a bit more interesting.

How about absurd John Shirreffs quotes? Can we put those in here?

For you, I'll make an exception.

Was going to post Barbara Livingston's blog entry about Zenyatta, but the pretty horsey thing is her niche so I'll leave her out of it.

Zenyatta is retired. Done, folks. Bring on the upcoming three year old colts who may last 3 maybe 4 races. They will be superstars because Andy says so. If the number doesn't fit, give it a few days and it will.

Zenyatta may have come up a bit short in this year's Classic, but there's not a horse in this world who could have made up that much distance to just miss.

LOL. What in the hell are all of you going to do without Zenyatta and her connections to bitch, gripe and whine about?

Go back to the drawing board like all of you who won't have their asses to kiss anymore?

LOL. I don't kiss anyone's azz. I'm not the one who has to go back to the drawing board. You have a fine, FINE group of colts coming up to put your money on. Be sure to bet plenty and bet often. You never know when one will be retired.

You're a walking stereotype for Zenyattards. Horses make up that kind of distance just about every day. I don't know where this idea that Zenyatta is the only deep closer in history came from.

On another note, as long as the lie that there is a Horse of the Year 'debate' is being propagated, Zenyatta and her reality blurring effect on otherwise smart people are still relevant.

Well, you know you are right. How many horse have been 20 + lengths out of a race to the point of not only losing contact with the field, but not even being in camera range.

The best you can fire at me is to accuse me of being a "Zenyattatard""?
If the appreciation of a very special thoroughbred horse puts me in that category, so be it.

Too bad you will never know how special that mare was. You don't deserve to.

Mine That Bird?

Yes, if you watched more than six races a year, you'd realize it's fairly common. But I'm the mean old grinch who points out that the fact she's a deep closer doesn't enhance her greatness. Sure.

LOL. Do I care whether you think she's great? Hell, no. I couldn't care less what you think of her.

What's left is a group of upcoming newly turned three year old colts who will carry on the tradition of serious lack of talent, but more importantly, a SERIOUS lack of training. Want to know why so many wear tongue ties? It's to keep their tongues from hitting their knees in the stretch when they are asked to go a distance of ground.

Good luck to you. The best horse ever is on her way to Kentucky.

Want to go there, Sightseek?

I gotta hand it to you. "Next year's three-year-olds suck and have no stamina so that means Zenyatta's even greater" is a new one.

Not only is Zenyatta the only deep closer in horse racing, she's also the only 10-furlong horse.

Sure.

http://www.equibase.com/static/chart...10610USA11.pdf

http://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbP...ry=USA&race=11

[quote=ateamstupid;730837]I gotta hand it to you. "Next year's three-year-olds suck and have no stamina so that means Zenyatta's even greater" is a new one.


Actually, it is not a comparison whatsoever. You choose to make it so.

She is retired. The three year old colts will suck like they normally do.

Not my fault that the only horse that exhibited championship form for over three years happened to be a mare from California.

The newly turned 3 year old colts will be as incompetent as ever. The fact they have male genitalia will excuse their sorriness.

You are a horse person. Putting up these two links is a plastic way out.

I expected better of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPUKb3CiBtc

This little gal could close a lil bit:tro:

Word up. That's why she's a lock for her third HOY in a row.

I will revel in reading about the future champions of this sport in upcoming months. You know, those world beaters that run a great race where the visual is so impressive, the horse is hailed as some monster champion. They might not get out of their own way after that, but that one race will elevate them to mystical status.

Go for it.

LOL.

i guess if all the three year olds didnt race till 6 it may help..

What the hell are you saying?

First grade. See Dick and Jane. Evidently you missed out on some of that.

And, if you had a clue about horses, you wouldn't post something so stupid as this. If you had a clue about horses, oh wait, you don't ..............never mind.

Looks like Theatrical is doing a Zenyatta BCC like furious rally to try to take the DT tard of the year title away from Smoothie.

As valiant an effort as he's putting in, I think he's going to come up short.

True greatness involves sustained speed from start to finish, something Theatrical fails to grasp both about horses and posting to win a year end award.

:tro: I see what you did there.

Theatrical is a she, not a he. HOY doesn't mean jack **** to me. That's for idiots like you and others to decide.

Give me Zenyatta's victory in the Distaff, her victory in last year's BCC and her near miss this year. You tell me what other mare delivered performances of this magnitude three years straight.

There is no HOY that will EVER come close to equalling those performances If she wins HOY this year, I would be ecstatic, but if she doesn't, I will always know she would have kicked Rachel Alexandra's ass into the next dimension. LOL

Gol-di-ko-va.

Times ten.

Jesus. This kind of scatterbrained stupidity should be bottled and studied.