I don\'t know where you get that QR was in the 3 path. In the early stages he got out from the rail, but he was quickly race ridden and pinned back along the rail by the time they hit the first turn. He then stayed there the rest of the race. Given how well documented QR\'s dislike of being stuck inside horses was, it shouldn\'t come as a surprise to anyone that he would be race ridden like that. I don\'t think this guy is really a 1 1/4 horse to begin with, meaning I don\'t think he can beat top notch field at that distance without having a lot of things go in his favor. Now add to that that he has been backing up this year, drew inside for this with two fast horses to his immediate outside and that the rail was about as dead as you will ever see on any track... It can\'t possibly come as a shock to anyone that he finished up the track. I can understand using him as a saver, but that\'s about it.
Speaking of the dead rail, the maintenance team had ample time to fix this by Friday, and most certainly by Saturday. There\'s no excuse for not doing that, and I can\'t believe it was an oversight.
And speaking of the race itself, I thought Zenyatta was going to get me at the end there and bust me out. Considering how much she disliked having dirt kicked back in her face early and the traffic issue she faced late, I think she accounted for herself very well.
Looking back at her career, we can question her competition all we want. But I\'ve never seen a true closing horse like her seem to be so unaffected by early pace. Perhaps the carpet she usually ran on helped her with that, but I certainly can\'t take anything away from her in this defeat.
As an aside, I thought Morning Line ran one hell of race as well in defeat.
