Quote:
Originally Posted by Smooth Operator
Actually it has never happened.
Cigar and Pleasantly Perfect couldn't do it … and there were probably other decent 6yos along the way which have tried.
Gives you some idea of what Z is up against here...
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Horses to run in the BC at 6 (or higher) since 2000:
Awesome Gem 2009 52-1 7th
Student Council 2008 44-1 11th
Perfect Drift 2006 34-1 8th
Perfect Drift 2005 15-1 3rd
Pleasantly Perfect 2004 5/2 3rd
Azeri 2004 15-1 5th
Bowmans Band 2004 62-1 11th
A Fleets Dancer 2001 146-1 11th
See something in common here? All but Pleasantly Perfect in '04 were 15-1 or higher, and really most were much higher. Any horse that was good enough to compete in the BC that was intact was gone to stud before the age of 6 in 99.9% of cases (PP in '04 a notable exception.) Age isn't the factor that will get Zenyatta beat if she loses... it's the lack of shipping and/or quality competition on her lesser surface.