jimbo66 Wrote:
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> A special note to Richie B. THIS is why I didn\'t
> understand all your posts where you stated that
> you preferred they hold off and meet in the BC
> Classic (and the great betting opportunity that
> this presented). Because it was always a longshot
> to get both to the classic. So we get NOTHING
> instead. And we have to like it.
Jim:
I am disinclined to argue with anything you\'ve said and give you credit
for putting the blame on both camps for preventing the great showdown.
I sometimes come off as the curmudgeonly yet irreverent protector of the
traditions of Racing, the preserver of the memories of the great runners
of the past and the great racing venues, but the truth is that the reason
I am still crazy about Racing after all these years is that I was bred on
both sides to gamble.
Simply stated, a race in which Rachel and Zen, each at odds somewhere near
even money, carrying nowhere near enough weight against 5 or 6 tomato cans
handpicked by their connections, just didn\'t tickle my fancy. The only intrigue
in a race which featured these two against a short field of fillies and mares
would be to see Calvin Borel\'s left boot scraping the inside rail on RA and Mike
Smith 12 wide on Zen (just joking P-Dub).
Rachel made her bones defeating males in a 3YO campaign which is a shade below
the two greatest 3YO campaigns I have witnessed, those of Secretariat and
Spectacular Bid, and her 3YO campaign is arguably the best since the Bid\'s 79
year, when he won what? maybe 5 major Triple Crown preps before winning two
thirds of the Triple Crown.
Zenyatta won me over by defeating the best available males in the 09 BC Classic.
In my opinion these two had nothing to prove against their own gender and earned
the right to compete with the World\'s best non- turf horses in the 2010 BC Classic.
I think we all agree that, taking Zen and Rachel at their best, Rachel is
advantaged up to 9 furlongs, Zen might be preferred at distances beyond that.
Rachel has a tactical speed advantage at any distance. Rachel is a faster looking
animal off her TGs with some mind boggling numbers. They both have what some
would call stage presence, though I do not believe that Racing\'s dysfunctional
powers that be would have been capable of creating enough buzz about the match up
of these two Amazons that might draw the non Racing fan in to see what all the
excitement is about.
Jim the only place where we really differ is that you\'ve been a bit tough on Team
Zen. If all goes according to plan on Saturday, Zen will take her place in the
gate at CD in November looking to capture her third straight BC event.
The big loss here is that RA would have been a stone cold bet against for me in
the BC Ladies at 3/5...
