Horse Racing archive

Manne wrote: The mighty mare ZENYATTA lost for the first time in her 20th career race — the $5 Million Breeders’ Cup Classic that was run here at Churchill Downs on Saturday, Nov. 6. Yet, the narrow defeat she suffered to the top class 4-year-old colt, BLAME, did not diminish the stature she gained from large numbers of Eastern based racing fans and self appointed experts who knocked her 19 race winning streak as a product of her affinity for synthetic surfaces.

For nearly three years, so many refused to believe that Zenyatta really ranked among the best female racehorses of modern times. They needed to see her against the top flight field that was assembled against her in the richest race on the American racing calendar — the Classic.

It didn’t matter to the skeptics that she had overpowered a solid group in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

So to be there, to be among the 70,000 wildly cheering fans at Churchill Downs, to feel the roar of the crowd as much as to hear it, to watch the great race mare come from way, way downtown to just miss catching BLAME by less than a foot on the latter’s home track, was an inspiring testament to why those of us who play the horses — are absolutely in love with the sport.

The performances that we saw at Churchill Downs Saturday — from PLUCK’S electrifying last to first run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, to UNCLE MO’S freakishly impressive win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, to the great European mare GOLDIKOVA’S exceptional display of class and acceleration to win her third straight Breeders’ Cup Mile — all that served as mere preludes to the sustained, dramatic rally Zenyatta put on while narrowly losing a Breeders’ Cup Classic that lived up to its name.

The last of the 14 Breeders' Cup races run Friday and Saturday, even inspired one Eastern based disbeliever standing close by to say: “Forget Horse of the Year, I just saw the Horse of the Decade. That was one of the greatest races of my life and absolutely the best performance by a horse that didn’t win.”

BLAME certainly made his contribution to the memories we will take with us, surging strongly to take the lead in the upper stretch while LOOKIN AT LUCKY also was making a strong but short lived bid.

Zenyatta was off very slowly, perhaps because she resented the clod of dirt that hit her in the face as soon as she left the starting gate, perhaps because she was not instantly comfortable running on a Churchill Downs racing surface that lacked its usual moisture.

Going under the finish line for the first time in crimson twilight, Zenyatta was so far behind the pack it seemed she was re-enacting the first half mile that we saw Friday night when a disinterested LIFE AT TEN trailed the Ladies Classic field by more than 15 lengths. Life At Ten never did get into the race as jockey John Velazquez galloped her at a slow pace around the track in fear for her health.

Similar thoughts fell into the minds of those who were shocked to see Zenyatta so far out of it on the backstretch. We all have seen her rally from last before but this was something different.

“When is (jockey) Mike Smith going to ask her to move?” said a woman behind me with doubts creeping into her thoughts. “Soon,” I said, “Or she won’t even hit the board.”

I had not finished my sentence when Zenyatta — still 15 lengths behind — started to gather her stride, gaining ground and some momentum through the turn to join the pack. Entering the stretch, she still was about six lengths behind Blame who was surging forward from mid pack with great strength.

Buried in traffic, behind the retreating QUALITY ROAD, Smith relied on the big mare’s unusual athleticism to angle her out a few paths — just as he did in last year's Classic. Then he quickly moved her out a few more paths until Zenyatta finally was in the clear approaching the eighth pole, barely 220 yards to go and so much left to do.

Suddenly 70,000 of my closest friends and millions more in simulcast centers, racetracks and living rooms throughout the world tried to push the great race mare to the wire with their loudest collective voice. For a few left handed strokes, Zenyatta continued to gain good ground. But, it was not until Smith switched to his right hand approaching the final 100 yards — with only Blame in sight — that Zenyatta leveled off with one final powerful surge, a surge that very few horses in my lifetime have been able to reach, an extra ounce of horsepower she had used so often to snatch unlikely victories from surefire defeats.

This time, however, Zenyatta could not get the final few inches. The long hard drive from so far back for more than a full half mile in her final race left her completely spent, without any last gasp answer to end her career undefeated. After the wire, Blame still held the same advantage, a sure sign that Zenyatta had done all she could.

So ended the truly great career for the most talented older race mare I have ever seen. So went Zenyatta's probable claim on the 2010 Horse of the Year Award, although many who saw her perform may feel compelled to vote otherwise.

At the very least, we should all realize from our raft of torn up pari mutual tickets and from the nose defeats we all personally have suffered from time to time, that horse racing is a sport in which great endings are sparingly written. Yet, it is not just the ending we need to appreciate; sometimes we need to take time out to cheer for the great story itself.

Cheers go to BLAME for his winning performance which may elevate him to the championship podium. Cheers go to ZENYATTA for her extraordinary career filled with so many indelible memories. Cheers, too, for one of the great races in Breeders' Cup history.

I was lucky to be there, reporting this for you.

There's more great horse racing action this weekend at Hollywood Park, and other tracks across the country.

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