Breeders Cup 20-20 Hindsight

[oliverstoned]

I'm sleeping about as good as Mike Smith tonight so I thought I'd make a post. I think me and Mike are both thinking if only I hustled her a little bit when she was dropping so far back. Can't fault his moves at the top of the lane though, that was some nifty moves with a moose of a mare.

I like Musket Man's chances againt Dakota Phone in the Mile, ditto Pady O Prado's in the Turf. Wish John Sheriffs trained Uncle Mo, what he's done with Z is one of the greatest feats in training history, to have her mentally and physically ready to run her best all 20 times over four years, unbelievable.

Oh yeah and I thought of a slogan for Gio Ponti's breeding career.

GIO PONTI
"Two mare's from greatness"

[BenB]

If she was shaken up, earlier on, she would have lost with a greater margin I think, because she uses her powers at the end and needs time to gear up.

[zinn21]

She was so far out of it the first part due to the dirt hitting her face. That was the difference. Shirreffs will be second guessing himself the rest of his life knowing darn well if he would have prepped her on dirt she would have run much better. I remember him saying after the Clement Hirsch he didn't feel comfortable going east with her and leaving the rest of his stable back home. Well he'll never have another Zenyatta and he will never get that 8 inches back that Blame beat him. She's a great great horse and he's a great trainer but that decision to not prep on dirt and train at Churchill cost her the race.

[LB]

Consensus at the CD track kitchen this morning was that Zenyatta wasn't used to the KY cold and needed a warm-up before she raced. But instead they kept to her usual routine and when she broke from the gate she was cold and stiff. A trainer who was on the rail said that when she passed by the first time Mike Smith was already smooching to her and urging her to go on. It took her half the race just to get warmed up and ready to go--and by then she'd spotted the rest of the field too many lengths.

[Matchemforever]

zinn21,

Thanks, I've always thought it wasn't Z's inability to travel that kept her in the West, but perhaps Sheriff's lack of comfort with being in the east when most of his stable is elsewhere- because I don't think he wants to be very far from the big mare.

LB, interesting observation. As conditions change so do the preps often need to change.

And I often wonder if this mare couldn't just stay on the outside, out of trouble, and still get the job done. She seems to be able to get the distance.

[Mahubah]

I don't think Mike Smith can be reasonably blamed for anything, even though he was second-guessing himself from the finish line onwards. He was doing his best to get Zenyatta into the race earlier and she just wasn't responding at first. A prep on dirt might have made all the difference. I also think taking the overland route would have cost too much ground against these horses, no matter how well Zenyatta stays. Smith did a very good job of getting her through the traffic while saving ground; she just gave away too much distance early.

[DuncanPatch]

Pinched back at start, slower than usual to find her stride, CHECKED AT TOP OF STRETCH BY QUALITY ROAD BACKING UP, angled out for stretch run. Sustained power in the stretch. Nothing to do with surface, everything to do with that check: when you lose momentum in a race in which there is no margin for error, and you have to make up 12 lengths to reach the unimpeded leader (Blame), you can't win. But she only missed by inches, whch is astounding. She did what no other horse did in that race and thus must be considered by far the best horse in the race. Blame is an excellent horse but only had one to beat, and in the end he barely held on by a head after having it all his own way for a mile and a quarter.

[Terrapin Flyer]

She was pretty close to refusing to get into a gallop first time by the wire, she ran her best race, you can't make a horse do anything they don't want to and thus she was 2nd best. Blame had to push his way through to get in front down the lane. He didn't have an easy trip either. She lost because of her running style and he bulled his way through a hole hit the front and never let her past...even after the wire