Sometimes four inches is all that separates the victor from the defeated. In the case of the 2010 Breeder’s Cup Classic, the well known filly Zenyatta lost, and victory fell to accomplished colt Blame.
Before this last race, Zenyatta was undefeated. From her three year old season to her current season as a six-year-old, she had a 19-0 record and was going for 20 wins before retiring as a broodmare. Her beauty and elegance had many watching, including non-race fans. She made Oprah’s “Most Influential Women of the Year” list. “I did not know who she was until the weekend of the race, said Laura Saale, a horse owner and rider of South Lyon, Mich. “I watched a special which documented the details of her superior physique and athleticism - about why she was built to win.” Some would argue that a filly racing against the boys was in over her head to start with, but all it did was give Zenyatta something to prove all along.
Zenyatta was born in April of 2004. She is the daughter of Street Cry, a stallion that also sired Street Sense. Zenyatta was bought at a yearling sale by Jerry and Ann Moss for $60,000, a steal in the racing industry. According to the Google search centered blog Carly Googles, the name Zenyatta came from the The Police’s 1980 album “Zenyatta Mondatta.” In a bit of history, Zenyatta’s owner Jerry Moss helped found the label in 1962 and The Police signed on sixteen years later.
Zenyatta exudes the “zen” that her name suggests. Nicknamed “The Queen,” she could be a stallion upon first glance- she stands over seventeen hands tall, which is actually larger than many colts in the field and definitely larger than most fillies. Her dark brown color makes her seem even larger. “She’s really big,” said Alex Brown, an exercise rider who also founded well known website alexbrownracing.com for Barbaro’s legacy and horse welfare. Zenyatta’s stallion-like size does not match her temperament, however. A 60 Minutes documentary on Zenyatta noted that “she chooses to always be gentle.” Brown had the opportunity to meet Zenyatta a few days before this year’s Breeder’s Cup race. “I hung out on the backside two to three days before the race and watched her graze after training,” Brown said. “She’s truly a charismatic horse that seems to enjoy being the celebrity. She was really enjoying herself.”
Her calm demeanor is not the only thing that makes Zenyatta different from other horses. Her style of racing was unique. Zenyatta’s preferred racing style was the come-from-behind approach that has been seen before to a degree, but not like hers. She is always slow to break out of the starting gate, and follows behind the pack for about three quarters of the race. Then she explodes in a burst of speed and comes right through the other horses like the parting of the sea. “Each time you are watching her race, you’re like shit, is she going to go this time?” said Brown. “These horses really do stir the emotions of lots of people. People who weren’t into racing really got started about it.” Sometimes she won by a number of lengths, and other times it was a slimmer margin. She always got it done.
Her exciting style is another thing that makes Zenyatta so attractive to fans and what has brought more people to watch her race. “In any sport we admire perfection,” said Brown. “If it’s a football or basketball team with an undefeated season, it creates an aura or a stir. She went 19 races undefeated, and people over time started to take notice. Combined with her charisma and high stepping public displays, I think she was an easy target for people to get excited about.”
There were mixed predictions about the race, with ESPN picking Blame to win because he had run on the dirt at Churchill Downs before. “I thought she would pull it off in the end,” said Salle. But the 2010 Breeder’s Cup Classic was just another race for Zenyatta. TV coverage before the race showed her standing in her stall, calm as can be with the characteristic cotton stuffed in her ears. When the race began, however, many have said that Zenyatta didn’t look quite right. “Zenyatta looked very uncomfortable early in the race and I bet Mike Smith was thinking, ‘Shit I might have to pull this mare up’; she looked terrible,” said Brown. “He was fortunate to move her at all.”
After the slim loss, Zenyatta’s crew and disappointed fans alike were searching for a cause. Brown attended the first press conference after the Classic where Mike Smith spoke about the loss. “He was the first to say that he messed up, that if he’d moved sooner she would have won,” said Brown. “But she looked like she didn’t like the surface.”
Despite her one and only loss, Zenyatta reputation remains. “Some will argue that her effort in defeat raised her reputation,” said Brown. “Literally 30 lengths away- I think the race caller understated that a bit. To be 30 lengths out in a race and almost win, you’d have to be some phenomenal racehorse to do that with ease.” He added that in 10-20 years she might be remembered for having one loss, but that won’t make her any less of a horse.
Zenyatta has even been compared to great horses of the past such as Secretariat and Man o’ War. Brown has mixed feelings about that. “It’s hard to judge, because obviously these are different eras and running against different horses in different conditions,” Brown said. “Zenyatta’s wins were in restricted races where you run against the girls. If you could put Zenyatta in a race with the others, it would be fun to see how it would turn out.”
The Classic was Zenyatta’s last race, and she finished her racing career with $7.3 million in earnings. It wasn’t the last time fans could see her, though. On December 5, Zenyatta paraded Hollywood Park in California. She will parade Santa Anita on their opening race day. Upon retiring to Lane’s End as a broodmare, she may receive an honor that only their stallions have received- visits from her fans. According to an article on ThePilot.com entitled “Zenyatta Retires: Farewell to the Queen,” Lane’s End is trying to set up something that will allow people to come check her out in person. That further shows Zenyatta’s great impact on horse racing. “I think a lot of people think that horse racing is a pretty cruel sport with cruel people,” Brown said. “If you watched Zenyatta you saw someone who really loved what she was doing.”
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