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Zenyatta presented with 1st annual Secretariat Vox Populi Award;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co4xV65_pzI
Great idea by Penny Chenery, a peoples choice award for the most popular race horse. The winner of this first award was selected by Penny Chenery, but the choice was obvious. In the future it is seems likely that horses will be nominated by a committee and the winner selected by popular vote over the internet.
http://www.secretariat.com/fan-club/vox-populi-award/
Would be a good idea to do something like this in the UK as well to honor horses like Sea The Stars, Goldikova and Kauto Star and their fans.
Zenyatta – 2010 Horse of the Year
Running Free (video)
Last Dance for Queen Z
http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/editoria … i?id=20545
Last Ride for Isabel’s Birthday Present
http://www.zenyatta.com/news/diary-post-20
This is sad to see the great mare’s racing career come to an end, especially after her heartbreaking last charge fell just short in a race where I felt she was clearly the best horse. I am consoled that she retired sound and will join Life is Sweet at one of Kentucky’s finest farms, Lanes End.
Will Zenyatta return for another season?
"They are talking about making a decision by the end of November but I can’t say for sure," said Shirreffs. "Where she’s going is still in discussion." – John Shirreffs
Why Zenyatta Lost
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTl2fdMXfv8
Stop the video at 1:18, notice how the three horses directly in front of Zenyatta make almost a perfect V with the rail. An apprentice would know better than to run into that pocket. The 4-path is wide open yet Mike Smith runs Zenyatta right for the rail.
Stop again at 1:45 when Zenyatta finally gets into the clear and straightens out to run for the wire. Almost no horse could win from here, yet Zenyatta almost pulled it off. Notice how close Zenyatta is to the horse just inside of her. At this point Mike Smith completely panics and starts whipping left-handed as the AntePostKing put it, "like a demented monkey". Run the video ahead and stop again at 1:52. Now there are at least two paths between Zenyatta and the horse immediately inside her. How much ground do you think that lost? Notice how much wider Zenyatta is than Lookin At Lucky. Now Mike Smith panics again and goes to a furious right-handed whip watch how Zenyatta now moves left, closing the gap between her and LAL. Mikes frantic whipping didn’t do anything to make Zenyatta run any faster, she was already giving it all she had and weaving out, then in cost her more than enough ground to lose the race.
If Calvin Borel can be criticized for over-whipping Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward, why can’t Mike Smith be criticized for the same thing especially since it was the final mistake that cost Zenyatta the race? Count the number of times MS whips Zenyatta in the stretch to try to make up for his earlier blunder on the stretch turn. Mike Smith did make history today. This will go down in history as one of the worst rides ever.
It’s not unusual for the whip to be used that way in the US. I mean in that very race other jockeys were going at it on their horses.
Unfortunately, true. As an American, I wish such whipping were totally outlawed, as it is in the UK. Other than a little tap to straighten a horse out or get them out of trouble, I’d rather they wouldn’t use the whip at all.
But, in this case, pounding on Zenyatta was just stupid, because the left-handed whipping drove her to the outside, then the right-handed whipping drove her back. If she hadn’t gone over all the unnecessary ground she covered in response to the whipping, she would have been past Blame before the wire. Shaking the reins at her is all she needs to give her best effort. I’ll bet she was feeling abused and confused by such uncalled for and unaccustomed treatment. She was already giving it her all—as she always does. Very disappointed in Mike Smith.
Great article about Zenyatta and her people.
"David Ingordo, son of the Mosses’ racing manager and Shirreffs’ wife, Dottie Ingordo, saw something. He bought the horse for the Mosses. She cost $60,000. The reports soon came out of the farm: You’ve either got one amazing horse or a lot of really bad ones."
http://blogs.bettor.com/Zenyatta-couldn … ter-a38702
"Aside from Mike Smith, who will be in the saddle when the gates crash open came race time, no-one knows the feeling that comes up through the reins from Zenyatta better than Steve Willard. He is the mare’s work rider and his reaction to her workout suggested that those banking on the favourite not handling the track were on the wrong track themselves.
“She’s terrific," Willard said. "She couldn’t be training any better. She loves the dirt. She drives off it. It doesn’t have the trampoline effect like the synthetics."
Don’t know if you get this program in England but 60 minutes is an American news program and this Sunday they did a feature on Zenyatta.
For those of us that just can’t get enough Zenyatta news, there is now a blog that chronicles her daily activities between now and the Breeders Cup;
This is today’s posting;
Tuesday’s Zenyatta Report
Here’s today’s Zenyatta report from Southern California (courtesy Breeders’ Cup)….
Two-time champion Zenyatta, preparing to defend her Breeders’ Cup Classic title and perfect 19-0 record, didn’t make life easy on regular exercise rider Steve Willard on Tuesday morning as he had to use all his strength to pull her up after a 1 ½-mile gallop over the Hollywood Park main track.
“That was a good gallop,” said trainer John Shirreffs. “No concerns at this point. Although, I do want to get her on the (dirt) training track again this week and off the synthetics.”
“She did great,” added Willard. “Just terrific. She didn’t want to pull up and said, ‘hey, let’s do some more.’”
Jerry and Ann Moss’ Zenyatta will continue to gallop the remainder of the week and her final timed workout will be Saturday, October 30. She is scheduled to leave California for Kentucky on Tuesday, November 2.Great post Bosranic, you really understand Zenyatta’s greatness and how her fans feel about her.
In her penultimate prep for the Classic, Zenyatta worked 7f in 1:27.20. Not remarkable time though the last furlong was 12 flat after a pedestrian 1:15.20 6f so Z put a nice finish on it. It had been raining in Los Angeles the day before, so the track, while listed as fast, was a bit heavy. Zenyatta had also galloped the 10f classic distance the day before. Shirreffs has been working Zenyatta against two horses lately to get her to work a bit harder. One trial horse starts the work and the other is placed to start running about halfway through the work so Zenyatta is always running at a fresh horse. In this work she started out running down Sorbonne, who was given a head start and then ran down El Vino who was started running with a half mile to go in the work, again with a lead over Zenyatta.
Lookin At Lucky was very impressive in the Haskell;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDgtH8Phlds
But that was only a race for 3yo. LAL has never run against older horses. Of course this is the time of year that a 3yo has the maturity to go against older horses on more or less even terms. Lookin At Lucky prepped in the Indiana Derby and while he didn’t beat much LAL did run well over a muddy track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=052ISIPCX-A
Zenyatta has never run over an off track and it is quite possible to get rain at Churchill in November. A muddy track might give Lookin At Lucky enough of an edge to pull the upset.
If the old bay mare is still what she used to be, everyone else is running for second. No 6yo has ever won the BCC but Shirreffs and Smith say she’s as good as or better than she’s ever been. The questions I have are will she ship well and have her 8.5-9f prep races against West coast females been enough to get her ready to be at her best in a 10f race against the boys? Switch looks to be a very good 3yo filly and off switch’s last race could be a good priced winner of the BCLC, although in her only dirt race Switch finished 4th. Switch got first run, opened up early in the stretch and was hard to run down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dq8fAQ6yjo
If good horse like Lookin At Lucky or Blame gets a similar advantage in the stretch they will be even harder to run down. Shirreffs has decided to keep Zenyatta at her home base of Hollywood Park to train up to the Breeders Cup and only ship to Churchill on Nov. 2nd. Just enough time for Z to get a gallop or two over the track and school in the paddock and saddling stalls before racing. That strategy worked well when Zenyatta shipped about the same distance from Los Angeles to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas in 2008 and 2010. The good news for Zenyatta is that the BCC is 10f, not 8.5 and at 1234.5 feet the Churchill Downs stretch is the longest at a major track in America. Zenyatta has proven form on dirt and John Shirreffs has said that dirt is her best surface. Another intangible in Zenyatta’s favour is that she is used to large screaming crowds and loud noises that might upset other horses more. She deals with the noisy crowds and pre-race tension with her trademark strutting and dancing while loosening up for a race and she knows where the wire is and is used to winning. She has always been able to go just a bit faster than any other horse no matter the pace or who is in front of her. They will have to beat Zenyatta to take my money. This promo video from 2009 is quite appropriate this year as well.
Trackside videos. Good interviews with John Shirreffs and Jerry Moss also great to see Penny Chenery in the winners circle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WHK6DU_fIU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0muxR-l7kI
Some shaky camera work but a good ground level view of the finish and the crowd cheering Zenyatta.
