Breeders’ Cup Saturday Recap - Zenyatta Wins the Classic

The amazingly brilliant Zenyatta, going off at 5 to 2 in this past Saturday’s BC Classic, was supposed to finally lose a race.

Going into the Classic, Zenyatta had garnered a record of 13 and 0 by running against primarily soft competition at racetracks in Southern California. She had won numerous Grade I races but she hadn’t beaten arguably the best in her own division in 2009, the brilliant Rachel Alexandra, or the best males in her state.

There were a number of reasons many horseplayers doubted Zenyatta’s chances in the BC Classic this past Saturday, but the super filly proved best again by winning her 14 th lifetime race to keep her undefeated streak going.

In winning arguably one of the toughest BC Classic’s in it’s history, Zenyatta beat the best miler in the world in Rip Van Winkle, the United State’s best turf horse in 2009 in Gio Ponti, the Travers and Belmont Stakes winner in Summer Bird, the 2009 Kentucky Derby winner in Mine That Bird, and two SoCal stalwarts in Richard’s Kid and Colonel John.

With the victory Zenyatta easily secured Horse of the Year Honors over rival gal Rachel Alexandra who refused to face the super mare on the Pro-Ride surface by skipping the BC Classic. Alexandra has been brilliant in 2009 but victories over males in the Preakness Stakes, Haskell Invitational and the Woodward were easily trumped by Zenyatta’s awesome performance in the Classic.

She simply dominated the best male horses, sans Sea The Stars, in the world and proved that she was indeed worth the 5 to 2 favoritism. So what if she only paid $7.60 to win. Zenyatta was awesome.

Greatest horse in the world right now? Maybe. Sea The Stars was impeccable in 2009. Greatest filly or mare to ever set foot onto a racetrack? Without a doubt.

The rumor is that Zenyatta will most likely be retired. I suggest that trainer John Shirreff’s and Zenyatta’s owners, the Mosses, reconsider. She could easily win another four races next year to finish her career at 18 and 0.

One thing is for sure, Rachel Alexandra and her connections are now the one’s who must make the phone calls if they wish to take on the super mare. After all, the BC Classic is the penultimate race of the year and Zenyatta made it look like a Grade III at Golden Gate Fields.

Long Shots Pepper Chalky Outcomes on BC Day

The long shots had their way in a few of the races on Breeders’ Cup Day.

In a small BC Sprint field, few thought that Dancing With Silks would prove best against Zensational, Gayego and Fatal Bullet, but that’s exactly what happened when the Carla Gaines trainee outfought Crown of Thorns to record a nose victory and pay $52.60 to win.

A large field showed up for the BC Juvenile but the Godolphin owned Vale of York still was a huge long shot when facing the undefeated Lookin At Lucky, who was 8 to 5 on the morning line, the Richard Dutrow trained D’Funnybone and top class Noble’s Promise.

Seed Bin Suroor’s charge held off Lookin At Lucky in the stretch to record an improbable victory. Vale of York paid $63.20 to win.