Apr 152010
Throughout the whole Rachel v. Zenyatta debate, I’ve been biased – and not always on the same side. It’s way too easy to make a case for either girl to have the upper hoof:
Very few have done what Rachel has in such a short time: 3yo filly with record margins of victory who then beats older boys? Wow.
Still fewer have done what Zenyatta has in her perfectly micromanaged career: 16 straight wins with a 6-and-counting G1 streak. That’s just awesome. (side note: Rock of Gibraltar holds the world record for most consecutive Group/Grade 1 wins – Z needs just 1 to tie, 2 to break!)
I saw 5 of Rachel Alexandra’s 8 starts in 8 months of 2009 from the winner’s circle, so you could see how my overarching bias might have skewed towards the filly who usually gets top billing. But now there’s a new (non-surgically removable) wrinkle to this minor girl trouble I’ve been having when asked if I’m Camp Rachel or Team Zenyatta.
I’ve just seen Zenyatta. Up close. And personal.
Needing to see a horse jogging near the Shirreffs barn Wednesday morning, I had to wander over and see if Z was back from her winning jaunt to Oaklawn last weekend. And…
Yeah… she was back, all right: in all her big, dappled, dark bay amazingness.
She must stand close to 17 hands and is the most muscular mare I have ever encountered – she’s got that whole Roberto “I’m massive, don’t mess with me” thing going in the shoulder and hip from her mom’s side (Dynaformer has it too, but testosterone played a part there).
Several years ago at Saratoga, I had the pleasure of meeting – and being bitten by – Rags “I Beat The Boys In The Belmont” to Riches: she photographed as the sweetest faced filly since Thumbelina, but I could not find her in Pletcher’s shedrow because she wasn’t at all lovely in the stall.
Zenyatta, on the other hand, is a supermodel. She is perfection personified – not just in race record: she has a rockstar aura about her and one cannot help but be drawn like a moth to a flame: taking your eyes off her is flat out impossible (no matter how hard the sweet barn kitty tries).
If there can be one criticism, she is slightly upright through the leg … but, hey, even Bar Refaeli has a freckle or two, right?
I was lucky enough to spend 10 minutes just watching Zenyatta graze. The most amazing part about that time wasn’t the way she attacked the grass or the ease at which she maneuvered her massive self – it was how she seemed to take note of every horse who passed her on the way to or from the training track.
She would just stand for minutes at a time, seemingly cataloging each horse as either a mother hen would or as her possible competition. And you got the feeling she wasn’t pulling Den Mother Duty. It was extraordinary to watch her mind work.
We know she can run, so given her ability to be unfazed by the weights assigned her or the ease by which she dispatches the depth of talent that lines up to take her down, perhaps this monitoring of other horses and their work patterns is her way of challenging herself?
The Rachel v Zenyatta debate no longer races in my heart – Zenyatta takes the (hopefully carrot) cake and eats it too. After all, women are born knowing that true success takes a little brains and a little talent – with an emphasis on the latter.
I guess i am confused by what u mean when u make the statement depth of talent, Zenyatta has faced 2 difficult fields during her career and 3 races in which she possibly faced competition similar to her. The two difficult fields both BC races and the 3rd race where she faced a foe possibly similar in talent was the 2008 Apple Blossom. I find it interesting that there is such great emphasis put on being undefeated when in 13 out of the 16 races she faced pitiful fields of 3 or 4 horses, mainly from California who would not have been able to run with the likes of Pepper's Pride, but she is some super horse because she can run down a horse who is still working through the condition book. At the same time its interesting to see how you called her career "MicroManaged" that is certainly an understatement of fact, this horse albeit a very good horse has not been given the chance to prove greatness by any means. I hope for the sake of the horse that they allow her to face east coast competition consistently and that includes males. Rachel Alexandra raised the bar so high that I am not sure that Zenyatta can reach the status that Rachel did, facing males 3 times and defeating number Grade 1 winners race after race after race. Zen faced a field of Grade 1 winners once and won quite handily, but there is still more to be said and done, especially on a traditional dirt surface. Nice video diary though she is something to marvel at. Me on the other hand, I would much rather spend the day watching the reigning Horse of the Year graze. That is Priceless.
Right on Anonymous. If Zenyatta comes to Churchill Downs and beats some boys on the dirt in the Stephan Foster then we can mention her in the same sentence with R.A.
Tell us about the new radio show you are on? sounds like some heavt talent?
Throughout most of Zenyatta's career, her people haven't taken many chances. Rather than seeking out the best available competition, she has been kept at home – forcing challengers to come to her and race on her terms. All but one of her wins were in California where she could take advantage of an artificial surface very conducive to stretch running. Most of her winning streak appears to be against the same group of California fillies and mares. Is this a winning streak? Yes. Is this incredible? Not unless you are impressed by the Harlem Globetrotters beating a team of local high school gym teachers every night. Her fame grew when the TVG network, looking for a hometown hero to promote to market their product, jumped with both feet onto the Zenyatta band wagon. Zenyatta is a remarkable athlete and her two Breeder's Cup wins were outstanding. I'm just not ready to use the word great. I'll save that title for the Horse of the Year.
I've spent more than 10 minutes with Rachel grazing… she's impressive no question. I love Rachel. I really, really do. There's very few non-2yo horses I've liked more in the last year+. The ladies should have been co-HoY and they deserve to never face each other because neither is less than the other – they are both flat out incredible.
I'm not going to touch the "Zenyatta hasn't beaten anyone" comment – she's beaten every challenger who has ever crossed her path, and many who have gone on to accomplish stakes wins themselves.
And Jason, I love ya, but come on… Zenyatta doesn't have to prove anything more to be called great. Just remember: the Foster field is not going to be even what it was last year – Einstein, Bullsbay, Asiatic Boy, Researcher, etc.
I will say the same thing about Z as I said about Rachel before the Woodward: she hasn't been hit in months. Whereas, Rachel hadn't felt it prior to the Woodward (and even then Calvin just popped her 4 times down the stretch), Mike hasn't had to reach back and crack Zenyatta since maybe '09. Even the Clement Hirsch – a race she won by a whisker – she got that under a hand ride, a shoulder punch, and a showing her right eye the whip.
By current racing standards, Z has been micromanaged – and it's not a bad thing. For a 6yo mare to have run just 16 times nowadays… she's been in (pardon me: won) 14 stakes, never worse than a G2 – she is an absolute John Shirreffs special.
Does every Zenyatta basher here chew gum and roll their hair with their middle index finger?
I am stupified at the comments.
Zenyatta is the best horse I have ever seen! And I have seen over a 1.5 mil horses train over the course of my career.
She has beaten Life Is Sweet three times, and all Life Is Sweet did was beat all the overhyped, overgfigured, overSheeted East coast horses in the Breeders Cup Ladies Classic. By the way, that is a fact, not conjecture nor opinion, for those of you that missed class because you were learning to new pom-pom tricks.
She beat Tough Tiz's A Sis in 2008, and that mare went on to destroy a field in the Ruffian at Belmont. Again, against all East coast butchy mares.
She beat the girls at Oaklawn not once but twice, the first time she beat the incumbent champion, who was on a roll for Bobby Frankel. The second time, she won in a canter, when Jess took his Merlot and went home.
She beat the males, from the East, the West, and Europe in the Breeders Cup Classic in 2009. She did it emphatically. She is 16 for 16, never been beaten.
What do you people want more of?
Jason, man, you bring up the Stephen Foster, like it's going to be the showdown of the ages……like Rachel has already won the Stephen Foster when she isn't even guaranteed to run (like she was in the Apple Blossom before she boobooed in Louisiana). Put aside the dude versus chick thing which reads like you can't handle a girl on top. Get over yourself, like totally, right now.
Alison, I could pop off really, but, hon, lay down, cold compresses, and fortunately for you there is medication for such behavior. (You can get anything here in California)
To Rachel, Zardana beat you on the square. Some say you didn't run well, which are the same people that herald numbers and sheet figures as the second coming of the Lord, and despite you receiving a negative 1 1/2 in the Thorograph sheets. That was a Classic number last I looked.
The hypocrisy is in in the eye of the beholder who selectively makes opinions without regard to evidence presented. Those are actually witch-hunts.
We make excuses for Rachel, we knock Zenyatta arbitrarily despite her being undefeated, never beaten, finished first in every single one of her races for some of you that need to have undefeated defined. Rachel can't say that, and I will be pulling for her defeat in the La Troienne on April 30. Why? Because once and for all, put a fork in this debate.
The depth of Zenyatta's achievements spans three years, multiple layoffs and adversity in surfaces here in California. She absolutely hates the Del Mar poly so much she almost refuses to train on it. Zen, me too, baby. I get you.
It is the hardest thing to do for a Thoroughbred to go to the sidelines and then come back and pick up right where they left off. Zenyatta did it every single time, Rachel did not! Again, Rachel DID NOT.
Horses only have so many races in them, and Zenyatta has shown to be resilient as much as talented. She is the perfect thoroughbred.
How did I know? Because I have seen her train for the last three years, I have seen 90% of her works. the conversation here shouldn't be who is better Rachel or Zenyatta, it should be "have we seen her [Zenyatta] best yet? "
You ask me, and I can tell you, without blinking, NO!
"Anonymous" MUST be JJ himself… who else would have such an absurd opinion?
Bruno – Couldn't have said it better. I'm right there with you rooting for RA to end the debate with a big fat "Told Ya So"….!!!
Molly Jo – Congrats on the new gig with Felix and the boys. Looking forward to the first show!
Happy Racing
You can have your opinion (said while chewing gum and twirling my hair) I guess this is why they call California "The land of Fruits and Nuts." Keep those blinkers on and keep racing on that beach sand and pretending that the rest of the world (and dirt!) doesn't matter. You can give me the "Told you so" when Zenyatta wins Horse of the Year.