Perfection. This weekend was all about it. And I’m not talking about the Indianapolis Colts or the New Orleans Saints.
I’m speaking, of course, about Zenyatta, my favorite for the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, annually given to the best thoroughbred in America. This past weekend’s Breeders’ Cup brought together the best horses three or older from all over the world. And in Saturday’s Classic, Zenyatta proved that she was better than them all. When the five-year-old wonder mare thrilled the crowd by becoming the first female horse to win the biggest race in her sport, I was roaring alongside them from my living room.
Coming back from last place, Zenyatta made the final turn and started a dramatic run. Speaking of perfection, jockey Mike Smith had a sublime ride atop the mare, bringing her from the back of the pack and through a crowd of horses to the outside, where she outkicked her male counterparts. And the horse named after an album by The Police proved that every little thing she does is magic.
To put it in another perspective, Zenyatta’s story is kind of similar to the Disney/Pixar movie “Up.” Heading into Saturday, everyone knew how good a horse she was, but it was unclear how she would do on the main stage against males. Similarly, “Up” had the Pixar tag behind it, but a crazy premise that made you pause and wonder whether it would hold a candle to a “Finding Nemo.”
Well, the movie and the horse proved doubters wrong. Zenyatta stamped her name among the sport’s all-time elite with her 14th consecutive victory, while “Up” proved to be one of the most successful movies of the summer.
But getting back to the topic at hand, this wasn’t even a duel — it was a schooling. Zenyatta, who towered over all her male competitors, just toyed with the field early, as she is accustomed to doing, before turning on the jets.
Smith said before the race that he never used more than 80 percent of his horse, and it didn’t look like he did Saturday. Yet, Zenyatta still left such competitors as Mine That Bird, the Kentucky Derby Winner; Summer Bird, the Belmont Winner; Gio Ponti, the best turf horse; and one of the top horses in Europe in Rip Van Winkle — who still wins points for having the best name — in her wake.
And that is why Zenyatta’s perfection makes her more impressive than any horse this year — including Rachel Alexandra, the Preakness and Kentucky Oaks victor. Zenyatta’s five-for-five campaign earned her the most money of any thoroughbred in North America in 2009, above Rachel Alexandra’s earnings in her eight first-place finishes.
And the field that Zenyatta dominated on Saturday as a whole was more impressive than anything Rachel Alexandra faced this year, even though the latter beat myriad top horses, including both Mine That Bird and Summer Bird, in her eight wins.
That is not to diminish anything that owner Jess Jackson’s horse accomplished, including her romp in the Oaks and her three wins over the males in the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward Stakes. But if Jackson really wanted to prove that his horse was the best, he would have raced Rachel Alexandra in the Classic last weekend. The filly was absent, however, due to the owner’s refusal to run her on the synthetic track at Santa Anita.
But synthetic or no synthetic, Jackson’s decision casts a shadow over Rachel’s campaign. In the race that defines the champion of the sport each year, Rachel was nowhere to be found, and that is why her name might be absent too when the Horse of the Year award is announced in January.
Still, it isn’t easy to pick which one of these horses is the best. While Zenyatta’s win was sensational, Rachel was dominant in every race she was in.
You could choose by flipping a coin and be right with either horse. Regardless, the Sport of Kings will certainly be fashioning a crown for female.
But I have a better way to solve this argument. Match race anyone?
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Ethan Landy is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at Ethan.Landy@tufts.edu.
9 comments
We should be giving the award to the horse, not the connections of the horse.
Both were breathtaking when they ran this year and gave us wonderful, spinetingling memories.
The award should be given to both.
People consistently dog JJ for not wanting to run in the Travers, but why, to beat Summer Bird again, does anyone ask the Moss’s why they skipped the Louisville Stakes (track condition is not a good reason), or the Beldame, or the Pacific Classic or the Goodwood, all of these skipped for easier spots. It kinda makes me sick to hear them talk about “this is HOY”. Its a disgrace for horses to have to run hard to win races all year and then have a horse that towers above her competition not get tested and then win 1 race and want HOY honors. Shame on the Moss’s for such a scheme to win HOY in the back door, asking for HOY votes after running in allowance races all year long and winning the Classic is not a HOY campaign, its classless and embarrassing to the horses legacy. She’s a synthetic champion at best. Not proven on dirt. Rachel Alexandra Horse of the Year.As for a Match Race, only an idiot would think that Zenyatta would be able to make up any ground on a proven front runner relaxed on the lead by 15 or 20 lengths. Rachel would be finished with the race and cooling out in the Winners Circle by the time Zenyatta hit the wire.