Happy Breeder's Cup Day
Nov. 6th, 2010 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stThere's a bit of gushing and a spoiler under this cut.
So, I've gone on recently about Secretariat. But we have had a super horse among us for the last three years. The thing is, it wasn't a colt but a filly. Actually, she's a mare by now, because she's six year's old. Classic horses rarely have a career at six. Usually, they retire by five. Great horses often retire at four. And the dames very rarely run against the fellas. Not, incidentally, because they are weaker...but because of their hormones.
But Zenyatta has been knocking back races like the champion she is, including last year's Breeder's Cup Classic. She's run 19 times and won every single race. No second place money for her. They call her Queen Zenyatta. And today, she took on the best male horses in the world once again. Today's Breeder's Cup Classic is the last time she will race. She's off to the breeding farms tomorrow, where we all hope she will deliver 12 or more lovely, happy, breed-improving foals. She could easily live another 20 years.
I thought you all might like to see her in action...because it is pretty damned amazing to watch her work.
Just as awe-inspiring, in some ways, as watching Secretariat gun his way to victory. There is nothing wrong with being remembered like that!
I wasn't going to mention the spoiler part of this, but, I should address the fire of controversy here. People are saying air-headed things out there in racing land. They are saying this invalidates her claim to "super horse" standing. I could remind those people that Secretariat lost, too. Being unbeaten isn't really a very good standard of greatness. The standard should be the challenges you take on and how you deliver. There have been great fillies who never took on the boys. There have been great horses who never ran well on certain tracks. Most horses are defeated by something--weather, racing luck, illness or age. This was a dirt track and Zenyatta has previously won on synthetic surfaces (that means no stinging dirt in her eyes). She was nearly twice as old as these other horses. She's a girl. :wink:
And her racing luck ran out. She had a really rough trip in this race. Twenty lengths off of the pace, struggling perhaps with the hard footing. She is sharply checked before they entered the stretch. She found racing room in the stretch and with 300 yards to go came on to nearly win this race. She didn't falter or tire or give in or stop or get run down by a better horse. That horse who beat her wasn't BETTER, he was luckier. She ran out of race track. That's not quite the same as ignoble defeat.
Also, people are blaming Mike Smith for showboating...taking her too far back...giving her a bad ride. Well, it was a bad trip and Mike did make a mistake when he aimed her to the inside hole. But the hole closed on him which is hardly his fault. If that hole hadn't closed, Zenyatta would have won this thing and the yahoos would be saying it was his amazing ride that did it. Checking her at that point, when the inside hole closed, and going for the outside hole is what cost them the race, I believe. On the other hand, what else was Mike supposed to do when the inside route closed. And...come on...checking like that BARELY cost them the race. To me, finishing like she finishes is a true mark of greatness.
Rae
So, I've gone on recently about Secretariat. But we have had a super horse among us for the last three years. The thing is, it wasn't a colt but a filly. Actually, she's a mare by now, because she's six year's old. Classic horses rarely have a career at six. Usually, they retire by five. Great horses often retire at four. And the dames very rarely run against the fellas. Not, incidentally, because they are weaker...but because of their hormones.
But Zenyatta has been knocking back races like the champion she is, including last year's Breeder's Cup Classic. She's run 19 times and won every single race. No second place money for her. They call her Queen Zenyatta. And today, she took on the best male horses in the world once again. Today's Breeder's Cup Classic is the last time she will race. She's off to the breeding farms tomorrow, where we all hope she will deliver 12 or more lovely, happy, breed-improving foals. She could easily live another 20 years.
I thought you all might like to see her in action...because it is pretty damned amazing to watch her work.
Just as awe-inspiring, in some ways, as watching Secretariat gun his way to victory. There is nothing wrong with being remembered like that!
I wasn't going to mention the spoiler part of this, but, I should address the fire of controversy here. People are saying air-headed things out there in racing land. They are saying this invalidates her claim to "super horse" standing. I could remind those people that Secretariat lost, too. Being unbeaten isn't really a very good standard of greatness. The standard should be the challenges you take on and how you deliver. There have been great fillies who never took on the boys. There have been great horses who never ran well on certain tracks. Most horses are defeated by something--weather, racing luck, illness or age. This was a dirt track and Zenyatta has previously won on synthetic surfaces (that means no stinging dirt in her eyes). She was nearly twice as old as these other horses. She's a girl. :wink:
And her racing luck ran out. She had a really rough trip in this race. Twenty lengths off of the pace, struggling perhaps with the hard footing. She is sharply checked before they entered the stretch. She found racing room in the stretch and with 300 yards to go came on to nearly win this race. She didn't falter or tire or give in or stop or get run down by a better horse. That horse who beat her wasn't BETTER, he was luckier. She ran out of race track. That's not quite the same as ignoble defeat.
Also, people are blaming Mike Smith for showboating...taking her too far back...giving her a bad ride. Well, it was a bad trip and Mike did make a mistake when he aimed her to the inside hole. But the hole closed on him which is hardly his fault. If that hole hadn't closed, Zenyatta would have won this thing and the yahoos would be saying it was his amazing ride that did it. Checking her at that point, when the inside hole closed, and going for the outside hole is what cost them the race, I believe. On the other hand, what else was Mike supposed to do when the inside route closed. And...come on...checking like that BARELY cost them the race. To me, finishing like she finishes is a true mark of greatness.
Rae