Zenyatta
Please Please Please
Let me, let me, let me [be greedy, writes Bob Ehalt]:
I guess also asking for a race between Rachel Alexandra and Blind Luck in the BC Ladies Classic, a matchup between an undefeated Uncle Mo and Boys At Tosconova in the BC Juvenile, and Goldikova against anyone in the BC Mile might be pushing our luck. But can anyone blame me for being as greedy as Gordon Gecko? After twiddling our thumbs for so long waiting for the best horses to race against each other, asking for a string of blockbusters in the Breeders’ Cup does not seem out of line in the least.
Get what I want this time [Jess Jackson, writes Steve Bailey]:
You have the power to make this the most exciting fall season our sport has known in decades. Simply reverse course and become the hunter instead of the hunted.
Do yourself and the sport a favor and pass up a Breeders’ Cup prep at Belmont Park and go West to take on Zenyatta on her home turf in the Lady’s Secret Stakes (G2) on October 2 at Hollywood Park.
You have nothing to lose. Although Rachel Alexandra’s fans do not want to admit this, it has become a lost season. In football terms, the clock is running down and nothing but a Hail Mary can save it.
All In Fun
The Breeders’ Cup Classic is going to be the race of the year. Zenyatta vs. Quality Road. I like the female horses. I am a fan of Rachel Alexandra and I respect the heck out of Zenyatta. But, sorry, ladies. I am taking the boy in the Classic. Quality Road is the best horse in the country.
Based on the :13.34 final furlong he ran in the 1 1/8 mile Woodward against modest competition? I hope there are a lot of bettors like Wilkin playing this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. That means a price on Zenyatta, who will win.
3:00 PM Addendum: Quality Road “got a straightforward Beyer Speed Figure of 106” for the Woodward, the lowest since Saint Liam’s in 2005.
Catching Up
It’s been a light week of posting, all due to another site on which I work. Breeders’ Cup 360 returned on Wednesday for another season of Breeders’ Cup handicapping and chat, and the editors have lined up a solid set of contributors, including returning international correspondents Nick Luck and Fanny Salmon, and new feature writers John Scheinman and Amanda Duckworth. Best of all, we have Ernie Munick, tanned and pampered, driving the E Train. Over the next few days, more features and links will be added to the pages; over the next 12 weeks, a terrific range of content will be published. There’s a widget, and of course, we’re on Twitter.
Not one, but two articles this week on the Keeneland Library DRF archive project, one of the neatest things going in the industry these days. “We’re building a ‘Cadillac version’ of an online database,” archivist Becky Ryder tells the Saratogian. They’re also ramping up fundraising efforts, reports the Daily Racing Form, as the project will take about $10 million (or approximately $1.25 a page) to complete. Consider giving.
John Pricci tosses off a few fine phrases in this column, and several excellent points. “The connections promised they would share Zenyatta with all her fans. I wasn’t aware that all of them lived in California.” It’s 2009 all over again.
Only a Game visits Suffolk Downs. “My own pick in the first race, a $12,500-claimer, is the lightly regarded Why O My. I like him for finishing second in his last test at 135-1. Why shouldn’t he win this time at 8-1? I ask the studious Mr. Greenbaum what he thinks of my reasoning.” Not much, says Greenbaum.
A Lucky Classic?
Well, I suppose it’s possible:
A defeat for dirt leader Quality Road and a sub-par success for all-weather leader Zenyatta were two further indications that Bob Baffert may be about to get lucky in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The first clue came last week, when his stable star ran away with the Haskell Invitational, posting the best performance by an American three-year-old this year.
But with the leading older horses having the chinks in their armour exposed on the weekend, it now looks increasingly likely that the elite division could be set for a changing of the guards in November.
Although, I’m not sure what chink is being referred to re: Zenyatta. The sub :24 final quarter? Or maybe the final sixteenth in :5.94?
Related: Eight reasons Pull the Pocket likes Zenyatta. Point #2, right on.
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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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