Losing on Zenyatta hurts more than I can explain, just because it was my fault. She should have won, and it hurts.
It wasn't very good at all in the beginning. We got away just a little
slow, and I was just having a rough time of it going underneath the
white wire the first time. She wasn't leveling out like I wanted to,
the combination of the dirt, of course, hitting in her face was a lot
of it. She just wasn't used to that part. It just left her with too
much to do.
You know, it was just coming back in her face. Although she has run on
dirt twice, they were really short fields and she really never got
anything in her face before. It was coming back -- you can tell by my
goggles; I went through all six. I mean, it was certainly coming back.
It just took her awhile to get used to it. Like I said, maybe I should
have done a few things differently. If I had to do it all over again, I
would have, you know.
Down the backside, she picked it up. It was just a wall of horses. So I
couldn't let her pick it up quite like I wanted to. I guess I could
have swung out and maybe done it, but then I would have to be way out
wide and commit myself to staying wide. After the sluggish start and
the way she handled the first part of the race, I felt I needed to cut
some corners somewhere. So that's what I tried to do.
When I got her out, like I said, it was a gallant effort on her part.
She made up a whole lot of ground. To only come up a nose short, it's
pretty tough to swallow. I truly believe I was on the best horse today,
and if I had to "blame" anybody, it would be me. But my hat's off to
Blame, as well. He ran an incredible race. He didn't fold, and I needed
him to fold just a little bit. But he didn't. He hung in tough.
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