Distaffers
The Flying Fairy
“She’s not the biggest filly in the world … but she’s got the biggest heart in the world,” the Guardian quotes trainer Ed Dunlop saying of Snow Fairy after the 3-year-old filly won the Hong Kong Cup on Sunday by a neck with a startling display of late speed. The Telegraph estimates just how fast she was:
The split times for the Hong Kong Cup make astonishing reading. The time for the leading horse is taken every two furlongs of the 10 furlong race, and they highlight the amazing power of Snow Fairy’s stunning final flourish. The times for yesterday’s race were : 25.98s – 25.19s – 25.38s – 23.48s and 22.93s. Considering that she was a good eight lengths behind the leader at the two furlong marker, Snow Fairy must have covered the final two furlongs in around 21 seconds.
I get a stellar :21.8 timing her run from the replay:
Check out Hong Kong’s awesome “Race Running Position Photos,” which shows the filly second to last coming into the stretch (via Equidaily).
Snow Fairy is a name to know for 2011. Dunlop confirmed the globetrotting filly, who won four G1s this year in four different countries, will stay in training as a 4-year-old and could start in the Dubai World Cup.
Getting It
A dear friend, who doesn’t follow racing, emailed me on Saturday night:
I Googled Breeders’ Cup this afternoon — like it would help me “get” what happened. It didn’t. Looks like a lot of races and some kind of fight was reported — including the heights of the jockeys involved. I can see horse racing is its own world with weird horse names, legacies, and soap opera personalities. I also saw references to the Ladies’ Classic and laughed.
Not a word about Goldikova, or Zenyatta, or Blame.
I wrote back, knowing that I wouldn’t, I couldn’t, get across the wonderful strangeness of our little world, the essential mystery of every champion, every race that draws us back to the racetrack, no matter what heartbreak or disappointment befalls us there. We’re in search of the sublime in the form of a thoroughbred, and for 19 races, Zenyatta delivered.
Like a lot of other people, I made the pilgrimage to barn 41 on the Churchill Downs backstretch each morning of Breeders’ Cup week to gawk at her, the perfect mare. I took in her glowing coat and her calm amidst the constant crowd; I felt privileged to be so near. To look at Zenyatta was to wonder — how did she do it each time, coming from so far back? Could she do it again?
She almost did in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Almost.
I stood on the press box balcony, overlooking the finish line. I knew at the wire that she hadn’t gotten there first, even as I wished that what I knew would somehow turn out to be wrong. The crisp white “5” of Blame’s saddlecloth blared “Winner” as the pair flashed past, he on the inside and inches ahead. Back in the press box, even the coolest turf writers stood stunned. “I wanted that win so much,” said one to me, surprise in his voice.
And he had picked Blame to win. He had a ticket to cash.
That’s racing, a game of love and money, emotion and reason.
In the post-race press conference, jockey Mike Smith cried, blaming himself for a result not his fault. “She should have won, and it hurts.” She should have, she could have, she would have. I looked at the fractions. There, the first — the quarter she ran in :26.01, losing contact with the field, as Blame went in :24.45. And there, the last — the quarter she ran in :24.17, gaining on a slowing Blame, going in :24.96. Faster, but too late. If only …
I didn’t cry until Sunday morning, and that was while sitting at a Cincinnati airport gate, awaiting a flight to Boston. It wasn’t because Zenyatta lost; it was because an era was at an end. We’ve been lucky to witness the greatness that we have, in Rachel Alexandra’s 2009 campaign, Goldikova’s historic career (to continue for another year, a bit of good news), and Zenyatta’s almost perfect 19-1 record. Years from now, I won’t say that I saw Zenyatta lose.
I’ll say that I saw Zenyatta.
From Chantilly
“Honestly, these French.” Honestly, have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy reading Chris McGrath’s Independent columns? Today’s piece comes from Goldikova’s barn, where trainer Freddie Head took questions about the 5-year-old mare who may beat Zenyatta to the punch as the first horse to win three consecutive Breeders’ Cup races. Not that anything is to be assumed. “Gio Ponti, if he runs, will be the one to beat this year I suppose,” Head told the Racing Post, speculating on possible challengers in the Mile.
The Way It Is
Gary West on the Breeders’ Cup Classic results deciding HOTY:
Zenyatta’s 14 victories before this year, and all the goodwill and inspiration she has meted out, and all the publicity and attention she has brought to the game and all her brilliant charismatic flashes probably won’t trump what happens when the latches of the gate spring open a few minutes after sunset on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs. That’s just the way it is.
If Zenyatta loses to another leading HOTY prospect, it’ll be a crisis.
Monday Notes
Frank Mitchell asks, “who are the great mares of the past 100 years?” Coming up with names isn’t a problem (there are so many), but refining the ranking methodology could be tricky. Record in open company has to be one of the criteria. Regarding that, you have to give Alan Shuback credit for pointing out the unpopular fact that, as the two near their final races in the Breeders’ Cup, Goldikova has proved more than Zenyatta.
The Racing Post rates Dewhurst winner Frankel “as the best European juvenile in the 21st century.” On the all-time list, he ties for third. No doubt Frankel’s freaky, and so is Champagne winner Uncle Mo, as measured by Thorograph. [More Frankel: BHA handicapper Mathew Tester bumps his rating up to 124. That’s the second highest for a Dewhurst winner this young century. It’s also second for the season to Dream Ahead’s top-rated nine-length Middle Park win, and as such, “doesn’t do justice” to the colt, sniffs Hotspur.]
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies lost one contender and gained another over the weekend. Oak Leaf winner Rigoletta has been ruled out with a splint injury. Undefeated homebred Awesome Feather earned herself a shot at Churchill Downs after winning the My Dear Girl division of the Florida Stallion Stakes at Calder. “Breeders’ Cup!,” exulted owner-trainer Stanley Gold. “That’s what we discussed going into the race. If she won and did it right, we’d go …”
So, I guess this guy plays football? And he visited Zenyatta?
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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