She did not embody 'all taht is good' in horse racing -- for example, in 2010 dhe never met and won against a group of her peers -- G1 winners. Look at her races.
If HOY is a fan popularity contest, then we don't need to have graded stakes -- just let any old race qualify as long as the the animal is well liked. This is beginning to look like a high school election where the cutest and best liked girl wins homecoming queen. Hail Queen Zenyatta.
How much of Jaycito's problem was jockey?
How wonderful that Zenyatta will continue to be happy, blissfully unaware of the losses and wins she had over the years. I am so glad that she is still healthy and beautiful.
I hate posturing and that is all that is happening right now. I believed that Z had a chance at HOY in 2008 but Curlin won and there was no backlash. Now, Z has not had a HOY success this year and we are spending time and clogging the airwaves with 'she should win...'. Too bad; her races this year were not up to par and that has noting to do with the Classic. Z has NOT earned the title. NO NO NO.
To Humphrey: The article contains: Both Goldikova and Zenyatta won five Group or Grade 1 races in 2010, but there is little resemblance in the quality of the fields the two were beating in those races. In her four Group 1 victories in Europe and her Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile triumph, Goldikova was beating 16 winners of 37 Group or Grade 1 races. The overall Group/Grade 1 record of her competition in those five races is 157-37-25-19. In her five Grade 1 victories this year, Zenyatta was beating not a single Grade 1 winner. The overall Group/Grade 1 record of her competition in those five races is 28-0-1-2. Moreover, Zenyatta beat just two Grade 2 winners in those five races, St Trinians in the Vanity Handicap and Switch in the Lady's Secret. In fact, while Zenyatta’s five victories this year were all technically Grade 1’s, the quality of the competition indicates that they were no better than Grade 3’s.
To Humphrey: I agree about Citation and Noor. However, Citation had a serious injury and had not raced for over a year when he met Noor; he was far from the Citation of his younger years. His owner stubbornly brought him back to get more racing $$$$ knowing full well he was inferior to his old self. By the way, have you read the article with these comments?
I am not sure what that will accomplish. His true story would be interesting since I can't imagine how he crashed and burned so completely. Here is an athlete who placed in all the TC races but was unable to perform after that. I suspect exhaustion, poor health and mismanagement.
An inch is the same as a mile in horseracing. Z does not deserve HOY but it has nothing to do with winning or losing the classic (look at Curlin). It is based on the sole fact that she ran in restricted races for the season and won by narrow margins in restricted company. It is not her fault but anyone who is immersed in the horseracing business will tell you that you put a horse who is ready in a race that he can win. Obvously, Zs owners didn't need to risk her health in open races and I applaud them fior that. The tradeoff is that we will never know how great she could have been. HOY? NO. Presenting Z HOY 2010 will diminish American racing (our BC races are already losing rank) in the world racing arena since she ranks below Blame and Quality Road in world rankings. We should be concerned about that if we want to build a strong horseracing business in the future.
To Humphrey: Thanks for the comment. It amazes me how little the racing fans know of history. If you are just a person who enjoys racing as entertainment, then you should keep opinions out of the world arena (today that also applies to the so called racing analysts who crowd the airways and printed media with inaccurate information). I am happy to know you.