Zenyatta
Final Appearances
Zenyatta paraded for fans in sunny California on Sunday, in snowy Kentucky on Monday. Despite the cold, a good-sized crowd turned out at Keeneland to see the champion one last time before she retreats to stud. I wish the same could have been done for Rachel Alexandra, unceremoniously retired at the end of September. But even though honoring the filly was something Churchill Downs was interested in doing, her connections were not, explains Jennie Rees: “However, six days before the fall meet began, Stonestreet Stable quietly sent a van to pick up Rachel at Churchill to take her to the farm …”
10:50 AM Update: Many thanks to Susan for pointing out a recent post (with photo!) on the Stonestreet Farms Facebook page: “For those of you who are interested in seeing [Rachel Alexandra], we wanted you to know that after the first of the year, we will be announcing … occasional visitation days …”
The Numbers
The Racing Post’s Rating of the Breeders’ Cup Classic:
All the best dirt horses in America featured and it produced an above average winner, and, for that matter, an above average runner-up. Blame had proved himself a progressive horse in the top division this season and on Saturday he climbed the final pass to the top of the handicapping ranks with an RPR of 131. Zenyatta, in receipt of a 3lb mares’ allowance, matched her previous best ease-adjusted RPR of 128+ from last year’s Classic. On the raw figures, this was the best performance of her life.
Both Blame and Zenyatta received a Beyer Speed Figure of 111 for the Classic. That matches Blame’s previous top in the Whitney, in which he defeated Quality Road, and is one less than the career-high 112 that Zenyatta was given for the 2009 Classic. The consistency suggests we saw the best of both.
How about Uncle Mo? Mike Watchmaker on the Juvenile winner’s BSF:
The 108 Beyer he earned in the Juvenile was the second highest since Beyers were first published for this race in 1991. The highest Beyer ever in the Juvenile was War Pass’s 113 in 2007. But that Juvenile was run over a sloppy, sealed track, and we all know that conditions like that can often produce aberant [sic], untrustworthy figures.
Mo’s figure ties that of Street Sense in the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, also at Churchill Downs. Street Sense went on to win the 2007 Kentucky Derby off two preps, which is what trainer Todd Pletcher plans for his young star.
Breeders’ Cup handle, attendance, ratings, and website traffic were all up this year. From Tuesday’s press release announcing the gains:
Traffic to the Breeders’ Cup web site and micro sites, also experienced strong growth. Traffic to the Breeders’ Cup main web site, www.breederscup.com, was up 25% over 2009 and traffic to its specialty handicapping site, www.breederscup360.com, was up 600%.
I’m so pleased. And now that we’re a couple days away from the stress of keeping the BC360 site up, I can delight in the fact that we broke the server on Saturday afternoon — that’s how good traffic was across the BC network. On BC360, every significant metric — pageviews, unique visitors, time on site — showed tremendous growth. We had visitors from 127 countries, up from 90 in 2009, with increased numbers from the UK, Canada, and Australia. All credit to the editors and contributors, and thanks to everyone who visited!
While compiling the final BC360 stats report on Monday, I noticed that the iPad, introduced in January, came in #6 among visitors’ browser/OS combinations, and that not only did it register so high for a new device, but that it seemed to supplant smartphone usage, which was down across devices. Part of that may be due — at least for iPhone users — to the successful introduction of the Breeders’ Cup iPhone app this year, but it also occurred to me that people may prefer the tablet for mobile web browsing over the smartphone experience. Turns out, I may have stumbled onto a trend: “Are tablets the smartphone killer?,” asks Wired. It’s certainly plausible.
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.
The Week That Was
A few photos and videos from Breeders’ Cup week at Churchill Downs …
The sun rose late each morning at Churchill Downs. Here’s Filly and Mare Turf contender Harmonious, going out for exercise in a dark and chilly hour.
Ladies’ Classic winner Unrivaled Belle, with jockey Kent Desormeaux up, before working four furlongs at Churchill on Monday morning.
Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Big Drama on the track Tuesday morning.
Ladies’ Classic favorite Blind Luck schooling in the Churchill paddock.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Boys at Tosconova on the Churchill track.
Trainer Rick Dutrow watching Boys at Tosconova gallop.
Goldikova returning to the barn.
Trainer Freddie Head talking with reporters outside Goldikova’s Churchill barn on Wednesday. “I’m very confident,” said Head of the mare’s chances to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile again.
Breeders’ Cup Mile contender Paco Boy out for training on Friday.
Workforce walking the turf course on Friday. The Arc winner was a late scratch from the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Saturday due to trainer Michael Stoute’s concerns about the condition of the surface.
Zenyatta, in the Churchill Downs chute on Thursday morning, walks by with her pony. This may be my favorite 10 seconds of video, ever.
Zenyatta coming off the track on Thursday.
Andrew Rosen, owner of Theyskens’ Theory, and rider Frankie Dettori before the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday. The filly, sent off as the 5-1 second favorite, finished sixth. Dettori won the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Saturday with trainer Brian Meehan’s Dangerous Midge.
Goldikova, garlanded, paraded, and cheered after winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile for a historic third time. View from the press box balcony.
The Breeders’ Cup Classic field going to post. Tense moments watching.
About
Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
Elsewhere
Find Jessica on Pinboard and Instagram, Railbird on LibraryThing and Twitter.
Etc.
Links
Search
Boston Racing
Spreadsheets/Data
← Home
Copyright © 2000-2026 by Jessica Chapel. All rights reserved.