Zenyatta Has Earned Horse of the Year

[SilentScreen]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Can you please spell out, distinctly, what Zenyatta "has done for racing"?

Aside from reminding us what a true champion is like, she garnered the "positive" attention of millions of people throughout the year and was responsible for BC attendance, handle and ratings records.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by SilentScreen

Aside from reminding us what a true champion is like, she garnered the "positive" attention of millions of people throughout the year and was responsible for BC attendance, handle and ratings records.

You mean a "true champion" who leaves her comfort zone once a year? She is the poster child for how to let cowardice get in the way of testing a talented horse.

Originally Posted by SilentScreen

Aside from reminding us what a true champion is like, she garnered the "positive" attention of millions of people throughout the year and was responsible for BC attendance, handle and ratings records.

The BC attendance, handle and ratings would have been exactly the same had she finished 7th beaten 16 lenghths.

[AeWingnut]

Originally Posted by v j stauffer

The BC attendance, handle and ratings would have been exactly the same had she finished 7th beaten 16 lenghths.

imagine the argument is - if she wasn't there, it would be less

I thought she would run no better than 3rd...

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by AeWingnut

imagine the argument is - if she wasn't there, it would be less

I thought she would run no better than 3rd...

yeah, and if Mr. Ed was there....it would of brought in 100 more people so , mr. ed should be horse of the year. i kind of thought you should win to get the most votes. zenyatta came east twice, not once like someone here posted. she left her comfort zone twice ...its not her fault the "other" horse chicken sh!tted out for 5 mil. but still blame beat all comers in all the right races.........i'm guessing he wins by at least 30%.

[slotdirt]

I say again, do people realize the horses that have been running in the last 40 years? Does anybody really think folks are more jazzed up in 2010 about horse racing than they were in 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, or 1979? The Washington Post, a generally solid newspaper in terms of racing coverage, had a tiny blurb about Zenyatta on page C7 or so in last week's sports section. I'm guessing the author of that blog post/Silent Screen think that Secretariat's Marlboro Cup or Spectactular Bid's walkover Woodward would have received similar coverage? I need my way-back machine because I'm pretty certain those races probably received front-freaking-page stories in their day. That horses like Affirmed, Ruffian, Alydar, and Seattle Slew - Seattle Slew!!!! - were somehow less important to horse racing than the manufactured career of an awesome, albeit flawed, mare who couldn't get past Blame in the biggest race of her life?

Come on, people who post things like that just can't be taken seriously.

And another thing, anytime I see someone who's like 42 says they have "40+ years of racing experience," they're probably lying.

[slotdirt]

P.S. - having now actually read the blog post, I've reached the sad, but true conclusion that smartbid actually makes a much more salient argument for Zenyatta as HOTY than the person who wrote that blog. Just awful, awful dreck.

[Thoroughbred Fan]

OP has 18 posts and has probably only been watching racing for 18 days.

Can't believe we let people start a thread on here without at least 100 posts to their credit. We need rules around here or we'll keep getting useless threads.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by SilentScreen

Aside from reminding us what a true champion is like, she garnered the "positive" attention of millions of people throughout the year and was responsible for BC attendance, handle and ratings records.

This is one of the flaws in the justification of Zenyatta's greatness. There is no tangible evidence, thus one has to resort to reducing Zenyatta's peers. What is a "true" champion? Does this mean all the other recent champions in the racing world have not really been worthy? Not very "horsey" like of you. This has been going on all year on these boards. Up to August, Rachel Alexandra was the bulls-eye. Anyone notice the smooth transition of the cross-hairs to Goldikova, especially since she won a 3rd BC Mile?

Laughable.

By the way, where do we find these "millions of people" she attracted?

Certainly not at Hollywood Park.

Zenyatta's impact on racing is the equivalent of sending foreign aid to Beverly Hills.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by SilentScreen

Aside from reminding us what a true champion is like, she garnered the "positive" attention of millions of people throughout the year and was responsible for BC attendance, handle and ratings records.

There were no records in attendance, handle, or ratings.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

There were no records in attendance, handle, or ratings.

you hater, you!!

[AeWingnut]

Originally Posted by Danzig

so, zenyatta has 'earned' hoy and apparently the need for another thread about the same tired subject.

she has done no such thing. and exactly what has she done for racing? i keep seeing this phrase bandied about, as tho this horse is some four-legged mother theresa. please, i want details as to what has changed in the last year, or last three, since this horse has hit the scene? what is better, what has changed, how has the sport been affected?

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

I feel dumber for reading that blog post - but at least we have a 'rank'em' post

eat salmon the other pink meat

[ateamstupid]

I'd love to give this garbage the FJM treatment.

[Left Bank]

Originally Posted by SilentScreen

Aside from reminding us what a true champion is like, she garnered the "positive" attention of millions of people throughout the year and was responsible for BC attendance, handle and ratings records.

Wrong.If Breeders Cup attendance and handle was up this year it was because it finally left California and came to a real,DIRT racetrack.Period.The 2 dollar bettors Zenyatta brought out did nothing for handle and most won't come to a racetrack again.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by Left Bank

Wrong.Breeders Cup attendance and handle was up this year because it finally left California and came to a real,DIRT racetrack.Period.The 2 dollar bettors Zenyatta brought out did nothing for handle and most won't come to a racetrack again.

I doubt the ratings next year will be the same, we can judge attendance after next year as well.

My guess is they both suffer without her racing.

You could be right, because they are back to back at the same site it will provide real tangible evidence.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

I doubt the ratings next year will be the same, we can judge attendance after next year as well.

My guess is they both suffer without her racing.

You could be right, because they are back to back at the same site it will provide real tangible evidence.

since this year was in line with other churchill years attendance-wise, i doubt next year will be any different.

[Princess Doreen]

If Maureen Down/NYT has anything to say about it -

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/op...rssnyt&emc=rss

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by Princess Doreen

If Maureen Down/NYT has anything to say about it -

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/op...rssnyt&emc=rss

It's amazing really. How do these writers keep coming up with ways to make themselves look more stupid than the last writer to express their opinion about Zenyatta?

Among the many priceless gems in this latest attempt to get me to stick ice picks into my eyeballs...

"She came so close to beating the colt Blame that Ann Moss, crushed, said the mare could have won if she’d just stuck her tongue out."

[blackthroatedwind]

Not happy with Maureen Dowd. For someone as clever as her to write the kind of sh it that would appall her if written by another about something she understood is especially discouraging.