No problem on dirt for Zenyatta as Classic looms
Stargazers lined two and three deep along the backstretch on Wednesday
morning at Churchill Downs. More more than 170 top-caliber horses from around the worldnow are on the grounds for the Breeders’ Cup
World Championships, but there was no mistaking the center of
attention.Even trainer JohnShirref fs and ownerJerry Moss toted cameras
to capture both thepreparation and anticipation
from fans, reporters,and opposing horsemen for Zenyatta’s opportunity for perfection in the $5-millionBreeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Saturday.
Steve Willard, Zenyatta’s regular exercise rider, guided her to the
track just after 9 a.m. EDT, near the end of the morning training session,
and let her stand in the mile chute and look around for ten minutes.
She galloped once around, and Willard had his hands full.
“She’s training very forwardly,” Willard said. “I knew about the third
step I was in for a ride. Usually, she trains like a pussycat. Today, she
was like ‘Vroom.’ … She was nice and straight and she was pulling me
enough to make it halfway comfortable, but I couldn’t bow over her and
put my hands on her because then she would have been gone.”
Willard also galloped Zenyatta at Oaklawn Park prior to her two dirt
victories in the Apple Blossom Stakes (G1) and when she came to
Churchill for the 2009 Louisville Stakes (G2), where she was scratched
because of track conditions. He said there is a noticeable difference
in how she trains on dirt compared with the synthetic tracks in Southern
California, where she has been based her entire career.
“She drives better off the dirt,” Willard said. “She feels better on
dirt than she does on synthetic. I knew that the first time I put her on
dirt [at Oaklawn]. By the time I hit the far turn, I said, ‘It’s all over.’ I
came back grinning like a Cheshire cat.”
Shirreffs also has long believed that Zenyatta is better on dirt, and
he returned to the barn on Wednesday with a wide grin of his own.
“I thought she looked great on the track,” he said. “She handled it
very well and was really happy to get out there.
“Obviously, there is a little bit of anticipation, but I think everyone
is pretty relaxed. Zenyatta is doing great. She looked great on the track
and she shipped in wonderfully.”
Asked whether he is worried about one particular horse opposing
Zenyatta in the Classic, Shirreffs quickly said, “No.”
“I think if Zenyatta runs her race, we’re going to be happy with that,”
he said.
Shirreffs expects the Classic to be Zenyatta’s career finale, but Moss
said he and his wife, Ann, are not thinking that far ahead.
“There’s no point in planning with horses,” he said. “It just doesn’t
make any sense. You’re setting yourself up. We just want to go one
race to one race. It’s always been that way for three years [with Zenyatta].
It’s worked, so let’s keep it going that way.”—Jeff Lowe
