BEYER: Defining Zenyatta's historical role

[JerseyJ]

This is getting beyond the point of ridiculous with the Zenyattatards. It really is. The big issue is that while her zealots continue to call her the best ever without taking into account the circumstances under which she picked up her wins with. Except for two very weak editions of the Apple Blossom where obviously, she wasn't forced to run an exceptional race, she has run every race of her career on synthetic tracks, types of synthetics not withstanding because the synthetic track make-up has always seemd to cater towards the running style of Zenyatta which is to make that sweeping wide last move into the stretch, always more often successful on the synthetic tracks or turf than dirt.

Let's be honest here, she has never had to run on a track which really could prove her greatness or run against a field which was brought together that would prove how great she is. She has never had to deal with slow fractions on dirt that would put her up against it coming from off the pace. As an add on to this, she's never had to deal with a negative track bias as her running style picks up a positive bias out in So Cal on those synthetic tracks. Just look at Sinister Minister the one year in Keeneland in the Blue Grass. Was he a legitimate top class, G1 horse? Not a chance in hell and at any other track he's probably up the track in the Blue Grass. But on that one day he used his speed to ride the ridiculous bias to a dominating G1 victory because no one was going to catch that horse on that track on that day. We've never had a day where she's run where she's been up against a speed bias on a dirt track where front runners aren't coming back to the field, or where she's had to run down a top class horse on the dirt. Simply put she's never faced any adversity. It's equivalent to being a Major League caliber ballplayer who dominates AAA his whole career, gets called up to the Majors a few times, always hits well in his cups of coffee and yet continues to get sent down each year for higher regarded prospects.