On Zenyatta

[Dana666]

I've read some rather ridiculous posts over the years (and especially yesterday) regarding the great mare. Let me reiterate a few things I've been saying for the past several years. Number one: she has always had the great misfortune of running on synthetic tracks, tracks that rob brilliant horses of such brilliance, and level the playing field so that 50K claimers go head to head with Grade I stakes horses. Not her fault. We've seen this time and time again in the synthetic world. In the future the synthetic era will have been a mere footnote in the history of thoroughbred racing while been seen as a severely limiting factor in the performance of a racehorse.

To reference her great "rival" Rachel, if Rachel had performed over synthetic tracks, you'd never have heard of her.  Still Zenyatta was able to maintain a perfect record over those strange, performance robbing surfaces at various distances and over varying levels of competition. She's simply much better on dirt as I've always stated, and maybe you all can see that now. She wins by a noses on synthetics and open lengths on dirt. Yesterday's Apple Blossom was nothing more than a workout for her, she did everything on her own and has not even close to the bottom of her talent. Hopefully, her connections will continue to be aggressive in their spotting of her, and this year\'s BC Classic on dirt at Churchill is again her ultimate goal, and that sounds really exciting to me.

Number Two: I realize the pure numbers people detract from talent because she doesn't run the fastest numbers of all time – OK, as I've said, no horse could ever run that fast on a synthetic track, nor could the numbers given out on synthetic tracks ever be considered to have to the same accuracy as dirt numbers; even with that said, has there has never been a horse in the history of sheet making who maintained her kind of numbers, mostly negative, over four years straight, has there? Someone do the research? Am I correct? That alone should be evidence of her greatness.That she has maintained her consistency even as a 6 year old in an age where great horses are regularly washed up at 3 or 4, and has now tied the longest winning streak of Citation and Cigar only adds to her glory.

In the end there are no words or even numbers to describe her, and there has never been any serious competition for her either, from either sex. She is a once in a lifetime horse, up there with any all time great thoroughbred you wish to name in the history of racing. We'll never see anything like her ever again in our lifetimes. If you can\'t enjoy her, you\'ve been in the wrong game because it simply doesn\'t get any better than this.

[P-Dub]

Well said Dana.

Some people are just cynical by nature. They argue until you reach the point of exhaustion.

If those people, the cynics and haters, can\'t just appreciate her gifts then they are the ones who are missing out. Too bad for them.

[TGJB]

Pdub-- at some point you\'re going to get that there is a difference between making a comment about an issue, a subject, or a horse, and making one about a poster. If you don\'t you won\'t be posting here (again). This has nothing to do with the underlying debate-- I mean pissing contest.

[P-Dub]

So you are referring to what comment JB??

I guess if I change my name to sekrah I can tell people they lead a sad miserable life.

If you want to allow people to make the same flawed argument over and over and over and over, then fine.

But if you want to tell me to col it again.......tell others.  I shouldn\'t have to put up with that crap either.

[sekrah]

I apologize for my comments in that thread.   Your unprovoked trolling in the Esky hypothetical purchase thread caused me to make an emotional reaction.  Again I apologize for that outburst.


sekrah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Way, Way more likely to be Jess Jackson than
> Dubai, IMO.


Then after he runs him in all 3 TC races we can hear everybody slobber that he is such a great sportsman.

P-Dub

[P-Dub]

I\'ll take half of it. No problem.

[Boscar Obarra]

Anyone with an eye, that\'s been around the sport for more than 5 minutes, knows that Zenyatta is the real thing for some time now.

 The bashers have another agenda, which may be more Freudian in nature than anything else.


 Speaking of insanity, they are still talking about the possibility of NO Saratoga. I didn\'t think I\'d ever hear something like that short of an invasion from Mars in my lifetime. The financial meltdown couldn\'t do it, but this OTB sham can?

http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/04/09/news/doc4bbe8e5032fd8742469229.txt

[sekrah]

No Agenda.. We simply view any synthetic accomplishments with a skeptical eye and just want to see her beat the top colts on dirt.  Is that too much to ask?    I\'m sorry we don\'t fawn over her everytime she beats Allowance grade horses in televised workouts.

[Dana666]

Does seem unthinkable, but in these crazy days, I\'d hesitate to say it couldn\'t happen. I wonder how the racing landscape will change anyway with Monmouth doing the 1 million dollar a day purse structure. What are the top jocks and trainers going to do on Friday Saturday and Sunday, rent helicopters like Herve Filion used to do when he went back and forth between Yonkers and Freehold back in the 70\'s? At least that was day/night. If NYRA was smart they\'d be open on all the days Monmouth isn\'t but that kind of cooperation would be too much to ask for, I suppose.

[Funny Cide]

Dana, she\'s a very, very good filly.  One of the best I\'ve seen, one of the best in history.  That said, there are legitimate questions surrounding her, and it\'s a bit tiring to keep hearing how she is off-limits to question, though no other horse in history is off-limits to question.

The case of Zenyatta boils down to this simple fact:  A horse with her running style should not have been able to go 16 for 16, practically all at the top level.  By virtue of this fact, I am either underestimating her by not giving enough credit to her for being able to pull this off with her running style, or I\'m overestimating her by giving her too much credit due to the synth surface giving her running style an advantage.  

So, I\'m waiting to see if I\'m underestimating her, or overestimating her.  I\'ll get the answer when she meets top quality competition on dirt a few times.

Until then, and even after then, I wish people would remember that she\'s no different than any other horse.  If Ruffian, Secretariat, and Fager can be viewed critically, so can Zenyatta.

[miff]

Toyed with the Sisters Of The Poor. She did not run fast though,95 Beyer,app TG 2. Monstrous?


Mike

[Dana666]

I would never suggest she couldn\'t or shouldn\'t be viewed critically as you say. If you\'re really all that, you welcome tough critics, right?! I have no problem with that. The problem I had was with some remarks from (I would imagine) are otherwise intelligent and informed handicappers, that to my mind, seemed incredible or really just wanting to trash her b/c they have a so-called axe to grind, like there\'s just something about that mare that rubs them the wrong way. And in my thought process, I wonder where the hell are they coming from? They\'re supposed to be enthusiasts of this game and they say such stupid (in my opinion anyway) things about her. That\'s all. I shouldn\'t let it bother me but it does.

[sekrah]

What stupid things are being said about her?  

That she hasn\'t proven herself on dirt?  That she\'s a synth-specialist in a world with very few synth specialists?

The die to the end Zenyatta fans say \"She\'s the best in the world, she will beat the best horses on dirt.\"

The rest of us say: \"We want to see her beat the best horses on dirt first\"

I didn\'t realize I was such an extremist for making such outrageous unintelligent statements.

[TGJB]

Sek--

a) I agree with you,

b) enough already.