Zenyatta Without Tears
Well, tears optional…
She ran her race, as she always does. And in truth, being master of only that one way to race is not going to leave you undefeated forever, not when racing a handful of real contenders at once.
She seemed to put behind her every other variable: shipping, strange barn, strange track, strange weather, strange dark-hour-yet-false-light, strange “exuberant” crowd, and even the strain in her own people, beforehand – John Shirriffs and Mike Smith both looked gray. Or maybe she didn’t completely, and that’s why she was so clearly less relaxed-yet-purposeful both before and during the first part of the race. Her action seemed forced this time, at the back: not so much loping as struggling, perhaps contending with all those elements, as well as with herself and Mike.
In the end, though, it still seems to me that it came down to her finally suffering the inherent flaws in the way she races: so much ground to make up (after she struggled, this time), and then, so many good horses still dug in during her pass on the outside, at the last. And yes, one very good horse in the lead and not about to give it up, just because he saw her coming.
But hey: they make movies --“Tin Cup” for one – about athletes who have to do it their way, or no way. (I think there may even be a song about that?) And that’s what her team embraced in her, along with all of us who loved her for being her, so dramatically and so vibrantly.
She did what she does, and she did it brilliantly, with fire and great heart. Yes, Team Z could have chosen to test her earlier this year. To seek out adverse circunstance and better competition. But it’s not what they chose to do because it’s not what they wanted to do, any more than Zenyatta wants to race another way. The last thing that Team Z wanted to do was to “toughen her up.”
I think that’s the secret. Even more than they didn’t want to risk the perfect record except in the Classic, I think they didn’t want to “toughen her up” to get it done. Does this make the Mosses too sentimental, and John Shirriffs, too beholden to the whims of the owners (in the way of all trainers, after all)? Does it prove Team Z to be lesser horsemen, in this instance, because it made Zenyatta a lesser racehorse?
Maybe. But if that may be the issue, it may not be the point. In the minds and hearts of Team Z, this year was a grace year, and their way and her way of racing still left her all but a nostril away from being able to capture the Classic, anyway. She came home strong and she will come home safe. They and she did what they did for the sake of the experience they wanted to have racing, and racing her. And I cherish them for that.
Team Z: they’re only human. And Zenyatta: she’s still something else.
I don’t know if that is the best thing to do with her. We all like seeing her and the owners like to see her out there. But…