[QUOTE=vineyridge;4489230]
Have you all seen this article from the NYTimes. [/QUOTE]
Pinch me as I must be dreaming - Joe Drape actually saying something nice about horse racing. Wow! Alert The New York Times at once. Oh wait he works there already. We’ll see how long this good vibe lasts with the old gray lady.
Actually digging further here is Joe’s out of touch feel good feelings:
Here is one vote to make Santa Anita Park the permanent home of the Breeders’ Cup.
Yes, Zenyatta is now the highest money earning female horse in NA history. With her BCC win, she eclipsed Azeri’s earnings. Azeri had been North America’s all-time leading money-earning female. Azeri had 17 victories in 24 starts including 7 consecutive grades stakes victories in 2002. Azeri also won Horse of the Year in 2002 after running in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. In 2004, Azeri ran the Breeders Cup Classic but did not beat the boys.
HOY is not a biggie for me.
As some say, one race doesn’t make a racehorse, for me, either does one year.
If I’m going to be forced to compare horses, I prefer to wait until they have enough time in their career to amass a resume. How many multiple G1 winners did they beat, etc.
Zenyatta is a full 5 years old. Rachel is 3. I might be able to answer comparison questions after Rachel has completed her 4-5 year in racing.
There are often precocious young horses who wow us and then don’t do anything later on. Some never make it thru their 4th year these days.
Awards are for the connections anyway. Some outfits buy horses that look on the brink of great success…so they are buying a possible award?
THAT can go either way: they could end up getting I Want Revenge, or, Rachel Alexandra. 
I’m not an awards-type person anyway, I guess. :sadsmile:
As far as endeavor is concerned, if we’re going to award horses, we should have way more rewards than we do now!
PS As for “fillies against colts”, if we are going to reduce racing to this, that’s sad to me. All over the world they do it, no biggie. Lots of races have fillies in them with males here, too. If it comes down to boys versus girls being the ultimate “thing” we are going to judge racing on, I will be disappointed. Perhaps because it’s still rather new in the US, Americans are smitten with that aspect?
I wonder how she will take to being a broodmare. She obviously loves crowds and showing off.
I don’t have to stretch my imagination very far after seeing her pre-race dance to see her as a dressage horse.
However she does not look like she is a very easy horse to work around.
[QUOTE=DLee;4488567]
My point (and I did have one) doesn’t come out nearly as clear in a post as it is in my head. :lol:
I guess in as few words as possible, ONE big win against the colts, does not equal three big wins against colts. And the older the race, the more chances a filly has to win it. And when they don’t… ah, never mind. :)[/QUOTE]
I got where you’re coming from.
If I’m not mistaken, I believe that RA was the only filly to ever win a GI against open company in New York as well. If anyone has the stats on that, let me know. Anyway, Rachel Alexandra put a campaign for the ages together this year. One GI win against males as a five year old is not greater than three different GI wins against males, one being in open company, for a 3 year old filly. That’s why I’m ticketing her as HOTY. After the euphoria from the BC Classic settles down, things will be as they should be again.
Otherwise, what incentive would Rachel have to be extraordinarily ambitious next year? Jess doesn’t need the money, so all she would have to do next year is race fillies and mares in four races in KY and then win the BC Classic in KY. It definitely prefer the campaign that Rachel had this year.
Also, for those that think that Zenyatta is better than Rachel…I have some interesting stats for you. All you have to do is look at the Fantasy Stakes and Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on sunny days at a mile and a sixteenth.
Zenyatta ran her final sixteenth in 6.05 after Mike Smith had whipped her throughout the stretch.
Rachel Alexandra ran her final sixteenth in 6.07in the Fantasy at the beginning of the year. Calvin sat chilly on her. He never asked her to run. She was never hand ridden. She was never showed the stick or felt it. Calvin didn’t move a muscle.
And Rachel is only a 3 year old. I can’t wait to see what she is going to show us next year. When Rachel catches a track that she likes, she just freaks. Plain and simple. Rachel also ran a 12 second final furlong in the Oaks without being asked to run. That’s pretty much unheard of on dirt.
Zenny is a champion and great, but RA is brilliant. And that’s why RA will go down in history as the greatest filly/mare in the history of American racing. I know that I’ve never seen any filly like her in my lifetime. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the two horses. Greatness as we have witnessed this year doesn’t come often. It may have been the greatest year of horse racing in history with Sea the Stars, Rachel Alexandra, and Zenyatta all becoming great champions in the same year. It may have been the YEAR of a lifetime.
They are both great!
And they are girls.
(Remember when some people were saying “the birds” (MTB and Summer Bird) were going to win everything?
[QUOTE=5;4492637]
I wonder how she will take to being a broodmare. She obviously loves crowds and showing off.
I don’t have to stretch my imagination very far after seeing her pre-race dance to see her as a dressage horse.
However she does not look like she is a very easy horse to work around.[/QUOTE]
Actually, her connections comment on how easy she is to work with. All that strutting and attitude is solely before races.
And I saw a video of her being walked around the shed after the Classic and there were people everywhere and people and their little kids were posing beside her.
Trainer John Sihirrefs said she will be a fantastic mother because she is so sweet and loving. He joked, “I don’t know the foal will keep up with her.”
Have Zenyatta’s connections confirmed that this was indeed her last race?
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