Shirreffs says Zenyatta deserves '10 Horse of the Year

[JerseyJ]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

That's exactly right.

They wanted to test her against males eventually and Gulch was a very good horse, but they also were selective about it. They could have picked a race they knew Alysheba, Ferndinand, Bet Twice, Lost Code etc.. would be in.

They could have gone in the Classic instead of the Distaff.

The difference between me and others is that I don't trash the connections of PE for avoiding the best males and choosing the Distaff when she was fit and ready to go for the Classic. I realize that many of the greatest mares never even tried older Grade 1 horses and others tried and got demolished.

Azeri tried - demolished
Bayakoa tried - demolished
Dance Smartly - successful but only in Canada
Go for Wand - never tried it.
Paseana - demolished
Sky Beauty - never tried it
Inside Information - never tried it
Heavenly Prize - tried once and was well beaten by Cigar & Wekiva Springs
Silver Bullet Lady - demolished in Belmont

There was no reason for the connections of Personal Ensign to choose the Classic, seeing the field that lined up in the starting gate for the 1988 Distaff, each of whom would have been tough for Zenyatta to run down. Winning Colors, Goodbye Halo, Sham Say, Classic Crown, Hail a Cab, Epitome, Willa on the Move, and Integra made up what could be considered the deepest field in the history of the Breeders Cup distaff so there was no real reason to run that year.

You say that Azeri got demolished in her run in 2004. She also faced Ghostzapper who was arguably the best horse we have seen in recent memory. Also faced Dubai World Cup winner Roses in May, BC Classic defending Champion Pleasantly Perfect, and she ran a pretty good race, mind you as a 6 year old. I would put money that Zenyatta wouldn't have finished any closer that year than Azeri did.

You act like Zenyatta did something amazing winning the Breeders Cup Classic over her favorite surface while getting a favorable setup over one of the weakest fields in recent memory in the race. Last year's classic featured decent turf/synthetic specialists such as Gio Ponti, Twice Over, Richard's Kid, Rip Van Winkle and such, and mediocre dirt runners or mediocre 3YOs like Colonel John, Awesome Gem, Mine that Bird, and Regal Ransom. The best dirt runner in the race at a clear disadvantage due to surface was Summer Bird, and the next best was probably Einstein, who as we all know was a neat horse, but hardly a standard for greatness. So that certainly wasn't in my estimation a strong field last year.

But should we expect anything different from someone who believes that Hystericalady was just as good on synthetics as she was on dirt...