Zenyatta

[Dana666]

I have nothing else to say. I\'m completely heartbroken.

[Boscar Obarra]

I watched the replay a few times.

 If someone can tell me what Smith was thinking about for the first 1/8 of a mile, it might be an interesting tale.

 Looked about as interested as Life At Ten did yesterday.

[sighthound]

I imagine he was wondering why the hell she wasn\'t getting up in the bridle.

[Boscar Obarra]

sighthound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I imagine he was wondering why the hell she wasn\'t
> getting up in the bridle.

Could be, maybe she was thinking, I have to do something to lose, or I\'ll make a whole generation of wise guys look like rank amateurs if I win.

[sighthound]

But you are so much smarter than that.  Good for you.

[TGJB]

Yeah, really. Pretty sure she was even money, and did not win.

I won\'t have much of an opinion until I do figures, but I will say this-- QR\'s fate was sealed when he got pinned down on the dead rail. Couldn\'t see the race well enough to really see where anyone else was.

[Boscar Obarra]

Even money was absurd.

 But not nearly as absurd as some of the commentary pre race on how she was \'overmatched\' , the underlay of all time, etc.

 A monster effort, considering the insane dawdling out of the gate. I think Smith blew it.

 Pace was very modest, she prob threw a 22 and change 1/4 in there early on, just to get back in the game, way faster than any of the others had to run.

[sighthound]

Oh please.  She didn\'t win, she was half a head short.  She\'s a very good race mare.  I\'m tired of people dissing her.  No, she\'s not Secretariat, nor \"the best mare evah\".   She is a very classy and accomplished race mare.

[sighthound]

I think Smith saved it.  He at least knew she wasn\'t running her race, and rattled her cage up the backstretch and was smart enough to make a little move early just after heading into the far turn.  She never seemed to get interested until the head of the stretch in traffic.

[sekrah]

While I\'m glad her connections felt this loss, I acknowledge the greatness of her consistancy to run to a 0.   No horse will ever run like that ever again.

I too am interested in the figures.   QR on the dead rail, Fly Down checked twice, once right after the break and again in the first turn.  He\'s in the photo if he gets a clean run.   More than honest sharp fractions up front none-the-less set it up for the closers.   Probably another 0.  Blame neg 1 for the ground loss.

[sighthound]

I think QR is retired.  He doesn\'t seem to want to be a race horse.

Blame and the second string were a few lengths back from the speed, running their own race.

[jack72906]

Really? A couple of races beyond his best distance, losing to the probable horse of the year by a nose, and buried on the rail today and he should retire?

Let\'s get him back to a mile after a couple of months off and see what happens.

[sighthound]

He\'s just got issue after issue.  Pletcher\'s done a good job with him, but he strikes me as too mentally fragile to be a race horse.  

I would like to see him get time off then come back a miler, too, if he can.

[Millennium3]

Smith said in his post race interview she wasn\'t handling the dirt getting kicked back in her face at first, so she took herself back that far early to get away from it. This was the biggest field she\'s faced on a natural dirt track, so the amount coming back had to be a lot; she\'s never been stung by that much sand at once. The kickback on the synthetics is nothing like the natural stuff.

Gomez did the smart thing and let Blame drift out towards the middle so he could see her, and the more he drifted closer the more Blame was digging in to keep his advantage. She didn\'t go past him in the gallop out after the wire, so in the last few yards of the race they both had basically nothing left. She was forced to lay it all down for the fist time in her life. That last bit of energy she needed to close the deal just wasn\'t there, probably spent by having to make up all that ground just to get herself in it.

[miff]

QR was done when he drew the rail, dead or not.Johnny V said \"we\'re dead\" when told QR drew post one. Notice his head cocked right early on, totally uncomfortable while pinned down in there and a dead rail to boot.

Someone said Smith blew the ride on Z, BRILLIANT! Z was getting kick back blasted and was unfamiliar with it despite racing on dirt twice before.Z was a \"seam\" away from being retired undefeated.Blame got the perfect seam,fired his best shot and was game to the wire.Blame is a very nice horse,but hardly a great one.

Classic was average, fig wise, especially when looking at Uncle MO(two turn 1 1/16th mile) who projected out much faster.

Z showed she fits very well with the best males. Z will retire with a great race record, average speed figs but consistency unsurpassed by any horse in modern times.

Mike