You know he is one of my favorite horses ever... I tryed coming back to DT one time as BernardiniGOAT...I was told it would cause an uproar. No excuse letting Invasor run you down.

You don't think she woulda beaten a 3yo Cat Theif?

In that race. On Saturday. You don't think all of those three are in front of Blame? I know you can't be, but for just once, try to be objective.

Why not, what was wrong with Invasor?

He reminds me a lot of Blame. His nose win over Sun King does not make me think best of the past 5 years.

Bernardini and Curlin for sure, assuming they run there A race.

but Zenyatta's win over Rinterval does?!

OOOOOOHHHHH!!!! Burn.

Not really, I guess...

Yeah, because that's all he did in his career. Invasor is pretty much a different species from Blame. And for all of everyone's excuses about Zenyatta's trip/not handling the track, Bernardini looked like he was spinning his wheels and then got the typical early move ride from Castellano that day.

invasor skipped a race prior to the bc with a sickness..but came back strong

He was in an all out drive and looked empty... Something was not right, I take it back about him not showing up. He did not handle something, but still kicked in.

I can't believe no one has gone near this idiocy. I don't even really know if Cigar is considered an all time great, but the quality of horses he beat consistently, all across the country and world is head and shoulders better than what Zenyatta has. He had clearly lost a step by the '96 Classic and was hung out wide for a long time. He ran pretty big all things considered.

I personally liked him and thought he was very good horse. The one race that sticks out to me was the 2007 Donn. I know he beat no one, but the way Garcia steadied and basically stopped him and then have him re-rally on the rail made me believe he was indeed that good.

As someone who's first job was to rake horsesh*t out of stalls at Arlington when I was a 14 year old kid, I would have thought I would have moved on to better and more profitable vices by now. It didn't happen and I'm so thankful for it.

Along the way, while chasing the horses, I have met my best friends, taken some memorable road trips and have stored up a closet full of memories and laughs. I have gotten to see Secretariat run on a couple of occasions, watched Ruffian run the last strides of her life and have seen most all of the other champions since run once or twice. And on Saturday while in the grandstands I saw Zenyatta come down the stretch at Churchill Downs.

Is Zenyatta the greatest mare of all time? Doubtful.
Is she the Horse of the Year? Don't know and don't care.

But on Saturday for the second year in a row I saw her in person on racing's biggest stage in front of the game's largest audience run down the lane and stand the hair on the back of everyone's neck on end.

How do you measure greatest in a race horse? Don't know.
But I KNOW I saw it Saturday.

Gread read, this gave me chills.

:rolleyes:

The bottom line from this weekend...

Zenyatta silenced her critics. She's legit. She ran huge. She will always be a victim of her style, but that's how it goes. Teams live by their offense, or die by their defense... visa-versa. The good ones overcome, which she did all 20 times. Unfortunately for her, Blame fired huge. He heard her coming too, dug-in, held his lead before, on and after the wire. Losing by a nose to him in today's racing game is no slouch.

As for the Horse of the Year, anyone but Blame receiving the honor would be a tragedy. Horse of the Year rewards accomplishments, which in this game, is about winning. And when winning counted most, it was Blame.

It scares me that this might even be a close vote.

When your favorite horse runs in 2-3 meaningful races her entire career, you really have to make stretches to compare her to the greats. Clearly if Cigar one time lost to a ho-hum Classic winner, that makes him equal to Zenyatta. Nevermind what the two of them did through the rest of their careers.

I was thinking about it, but I didn't know where to begin.

As we all sit back and wonder why horse racing is the crapper, I will only say this...read the majority of these posts...negative, negative, negative. Someone says some thing positive and others bash them for it...damn near every blog is negative. Every horse sucks, is too slow or overated, every jock sucks, every announcer sucks...every race for the last 20 years the fields are "horrid', every horse that does win, either their beyer sucked or they beat a "horrid" field. And we have the nerve to ask "what is wrong with horse racing"? It's pathetic...
Just sit back and enjoy the animals and jockeys that put their lives on the line for us everyday...
Shes too slow, she raced no one, her jockey is a ******, the field sucked...damn just enjoy the moment people!!!!

You're right, horse racing is in trouble because people on message boards can be critical at times. You nailed it. NTRA should be calling you soon.

You have a wise comment for everyone don't you?

That poster is a legendary internet troll with zillions of identities across messageboardland. It is only worth laughing at ( or pitying ) but not worth reading.

It's easier than responding to things like that seriously.

Karelian.

:$::$:

Zenyatta is one of the greatest of all time. Hands down. The people who needed her to stay perfect to prove that should go curl up in a corner and die. The world needs less idiots. How could you ask anyone to stay perfect in any sport to prove they are great? That's just cruel. It's insulting. 19 in a row wasn't enough. 20 in a row wouldn't have been enough either. It wasn't how many races Zenyatta won. You simply would never have called Zenyatta one of the greatest of all time.

If you think that by Zenyatta losing this race she has now proven herself to be less than one of the greatest of all time you're wrong. Let's put this race in perspective. What was this race to determine? 2010 HOY honors.

This race wasn't a race to prove if Zenyatta was amongst the greatest ever. And stop turning it into that. What did this race prove that we didn't already know? Horses get beat and she was beaten by a horse who loved Churchill Downs and had the exact style of running that put her at a disadvantage. And Zenyatta always starts at a disadvantage to begin with.

To ask Zenyatta to win this race was asking a lot. She was up against it. But She still showed her greatness by coming as close to a win as she possibly could. She technically shouldn't have even come that close. But she is just amazing!

Blame is an excellent horse. He beat Quality Road at his distance and he beat Zenyatta at her distance. But he lost this year too. He couldn't overcome the running style of a horse like Haynesfield on the lose and he went all out trying. The same thing happened to Zenyatta. She couldn't overcome the task at hand. She just couldn't. It was impossible. Don't ask a horse to do the impossible. But you ask them to do the impossible and they lose by inches they truly deserve to be among the greatest ever.

I am taking nothing away from Blame. He's great. It would be easier to ask a horse like Blame to win 19 in a row than to ask a horse with Zenyatta's running style to win 19 in a row. But he couldn't. He can't overcome everything. Neither can Zenyatta. She shouldn't have won this race and she didn't but she almost did.

This race showed so much about Zenyatta in a positive light. I know that Zenyatta can overcome just about anything after watching this race. So for all of you people who made this race into a test of her greatness fine. Do that. But If you needed this race to show you that Zenyatta is amongst the greatest horses of all time I think it did. When horses are at a disadvantage they lose by lengths. Blame did. Zenyatta lost by inches.

Oh my god

I think I just got dumber reading that.

Dontcha just love how Zenyattards hang their hat on Z's perfect 19 for 19 record as being the only proof they need for her all time greatness, then when she loses, they pull dumbass stuff like this?

I can't wait for the Indian Tardlie colt's run up to this year's Kentucky Derby.

And what is it about posters with Bid in their name here?

Did the meaning of 'Bid' change meaning over night?

Are you kidding me..."people on message boards can be critical at times"...95% of everything on here is people being critical...it is this "great" sport and all everyone does is complain about everything...and if they don't complain, they have to make a immature smart ass comment...

Right, and that's what's plaguing the industry. I was agreeing with you.

Pagentry is not part of achievement. You don't hear NFL writers saying that Brady is the MVP because he has a glamouous wife and nice hair and has been a regular on TMZ. In Horse racing suddenly this matters. Al Stall is not particularly quoteworthy, the owner of Blame is a pretty dull guy, the horse is not flashy. But he accomplished far more in winning his races this year and beating Zenyatta then she did. It doesn't take a racing historian to understand that older male grade 1's trump synthetic track, filly races.

My distaste for the dumbing down of the sport doesnt mean that I don't like the sport as a whole. Just the direction that it is heading in. The entire Zenyatta episode is a discredit to the sport as a whole. The sport is a great game that stands on its own merits. It is not a movie and sometimes the fairy tale endings don't come to pass. Doesn't mean that Zenyatta wasn't a great filly. She just doesn't deserve horse of the year this year. She simply didn't do more than Blame did on the track in 2010.

I think Juan Carlos Guerrero deserves trainer of the year...he's certainly done it on the track. What do you think?

Good one.

What you've just said, is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Yes and the NFL is going to die because Cowboys fans are not so chipper this afternoon...

And the ever popular sports radio is a completely positive arena as well!

When things happen that are noteworthy and deserve praise, this board certainly does just that. However the incidences of real achievement are happening less and less in the game and us trying to gloss over it isnt going to make everything better.

No one is telling me why Zenatta should be horse of the year based on merit. It is always the nebulous stuff like good of the game, people bringing signs, excitement, pageantry, etc. You know why? Because the vast majority of her 2010 season just isn't that impressive. You can't talk about the great horses she beat. You cant talk about the easy wins. You can't talk about beating males. Her best race by far was one where she lost. Don't get mad at us for pointing this out. Get mad at Moss and Sheriffs who created this scenario. One win against males during the campaign would have likely sealed the deal. Ask why they were afraid to run against pretty soft males in CA with this great mare? She is obviously a great horse. Why wasn't she campaigned as one?

Deflecting attention away from Zenyatta's 2010 schedule is a smart play. Again why aren't her fans asking why she was kept in such soft company all year?

JC Guerrero is so good they need to create a total eclipse award for him.