You may very well be right that Zardana will turn out to be a serious horse on dirt. I bet Zardana yesterday, because I thought Jackson/Asmussen emptied the tank with Rachel last year and she was not likely to return the same horse in 2010 as in 2009.

I was only speculating as to why the Santa Margarita figure seems to have been "fudged" upwards (based on your own projections) in a big way. Maybe, as other posters have suggested, the conclusion that we should draw is that the figures are meaningless on synthetic surfaces.

Feel free.

Per DRF in the story by Marcus Hersh:

"Borel said he rode to instructions, and would have preferred to have let Rachel take the lead earlier.

'I wanted to go on past the speed horse early,' Borel said. 'I'd have got by her anytime and my filly could have gone on, but they wanted me to wait and not get into her until the sixteenth pole.'"

Have to wonder if Assman will be happy with Borel throwing him under the bus.

Humbly, as I am a know-nothing novice compared to some of you, but regardless of speed figures, am I wrong to think that Zenyatta showed amazing athleticism for such a large animal down the stretch? To my untrained eye she looked like Barry Sanders, cutting hard inside and then back out, never losing a step. Is that type of footwork some kind of illusion, or is there something to be said for it?

Please understand, in the RA vs. Z war, I'm RA all the way. But Zenyatta's last two performances have really got me wondering if I jumped on the right bandwagon.

That is exactly what I thought. Hopefully he gets a pass because he gets pulled and people will go apeshit!

I don't think anyone was questioning the ride. So I don't know either why Borel chimed in and insisted on rubbing it in futher on Assman. According to the quote from the Bloodhorse originally posted by Dani, Ass was accepting the blame for her being short. I wonder if Borel's personal feelings for the horse will now end up costing him the mount on her.

Zenyatta is probably more Ironhead Heyward than Barry Sanders .. but yeah, Smith looked vintage Ramon Dominguez-esque with that ride.

I would be a lot more critical of Smith's ride ... if only I hadn't seen Dominguez win like hundreds of Delaware races on short priced horses just like that. Almost never getting stopped and weaving to victory while winning handily instead of just looping around.

I'll tell you this much ... let's say Zardana never ran in New Orleans. What happens?

1.) Rachel Alexandra wins by 12 lengths under a lazy hand ride from Borel.

2.) The final time comes back less than stellar. She gets the same 100 Beyer but a lot of people foolishly assume she would have run a lot faster "if asked" She runs hard to the wire regardless of urging.

3.) Everyone would be falling over themselves to mock that pathetic horse who finished 2nd to Zenyatta. The horse had been 4th or worse in like 10 of her last 11 races.

4.) The line wouldn't be Zenyatta (-170) VS RA (+150) .. RA would certainly be at least a slight favorite.

5.) DrugS would become alarmingly unopinionated on this match-up. Probably just mumbling up something about how good a trainer Shirreffs is when pointing...and how cool the race will be to watch.

Damn good analysis from you both. Quoted for truth.

I thought the NO Ladies figure was a bit high but it actually does fit well when considering the quality of the allowance field and what Rachel had done at FG in the past. Also, clearly Zardana is a very good dirt filly- better than any of us had predicted (except for perhaps Drugs who gave her a 95 "Brasil Figura".)

Simply won't be denied. RA can work her ass off, it won't matter.

Zardana has run credible races on three surfaces, she just is a decent little horse. I have no idea where people get this she suddenly became something different in her 100 beyer figure effort yesterday.

its gonna pay well after its all over..good job in all your hard work doug

Isn't it a significant difference between a 101 Beyer and a 96 Beyer (her previous high)?

Not when turf and synthetic beyers are pretty much moot.

My wife follows horse racing about as much as I follow grey's anatomy, and even she knew Rachel might be a bit short yesterday. Agreed, no big deal.

I wish I gave her a 95.

Looking at when she was foaled and when those races took place .. it was basically a 2yo filly going 7 furlongs.

Afleet Alex won the Grade 1 Hopeful at 7fs with a 90. Ashado won the Grade 1 Spinaway at 7fs with a 84. Vineyard Haven won the Hopeful with a 84.

I think there was pretty strong proof that her numbers could be as high as 85 in those races... which would place her on par with our Grade 1 caliber 2yo's.

On top of that .. she was a monumental flop when she first came over here. She beat a grand total of just 3 horses in her first four races in the country.

Yet, she slowly got better and better to the point of winning a Grade 2 on cushion track two starts back. She looked like a true turf/synthetic hater who was very slow to adjust and develop.

I made that number up... not that it matters though. Your analysis indicated her quality on dirt at 2.

Also, Zardana's "synthetic" win came on the very much mostly dirt cushion track at Hollywood.

You can only count what she did before coming here, and what she's done with Cher' Riffs. The trainer she had in-between has been pretty much dormant for at least 10 years (Pine Box back ordered.) You can see how all this owner's stuff feels just a bit better when modern enhancements have been added by his 3 new trainers.

All works yesterday/today were wind aided or hampered

Huge head wind Yesterday and Today But I think Yesterday Was Worse.
I was one of the Faithful THat was sitting there CLocking all the Gallop outs