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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
Because of what happened last weekend with Zardana and Zenyatta ... the Zeyatta/Rachel Alexandra debate might as well be dead and the Zenyatta camp has won. The RA camp backed off and the race isn't happening.
It doesn't matter that Rachel Alexandra ran the better race of the two last weekend IMO - and that Rachel Alexandra was far more likely to step forward in the Apple Blossom than Zenyatta was leaving closer friendly Pro-Ride for real dirt.
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Let's see. Z has run 11 wipeouts in 15 races; RA has 5 in 14 races. This is interesting because wipeouts are much more likely on dirt, as, typically, there's much less separation on poly/turf. Which sort of makes the 11 for 15 thing that much more impressive --especially for a horse that comes from the end of the pack. And, when you consider that Z's most pronounced wipeout was on dirt, you sort of get a sense of how unique what she's doing really is. If Z was running on dirt, she'd be gapping fields -- like RA had been, only she'd be doing it much more often --- maybe always.
I wonder what happens if Flores doesn't gun Zardana as soon as RA takes the lead. I still think that Zardana runs her down. However, by asking Zardana when he did, and having her respond the way she did, he forced RA to be asked earlier than Borel wanted to. Whether she was short or not is really not the issue: she was definitely short for this type of challenge. This was clearly unexpected by the connections and the fact that they've bailed on the AB pretty much indicates that they don't think she's up for something that's sure to tax her even more.