Rachel confirmed for Personal Ensign
 

I am excited to see her pull down a grade 1 in 2010!

If she's "great" then I'd hate to see who is "good"

I hope that she returns to form and we get the rachel of last year back. She's a special horse and it is a gift to see her run!

Would zenyatta have to go over the Adirondack Mountains to reach Saratoga?

If Zenyatta plans to travel all the way there, again, will RA show up? There is precedence.

After looking at the noms, if Zenyatta doesn't run in the Hirsch, it's safe to say that it will easily be the worst Grade 1 race ever contested in modern history.

I hope she runs but I won't believe it until she is in the gate.

Why would she not run?

this is exactly why I was wondering why you guys were all complaining about Rachel "dissing NYRA & running at Monmouth".

How would Zenyatta coming to Oaklawn when Rachel was stalled in Kentucky be the same thing as Zenyatta coming to Saratoga and Rachel not running when she was stabled on the friggin' grounds? I'd have to imagine barring a catastrophe that Rachel will be running in the Personal Ensign no matter who shows up in the starting gate.

why take the chance? just wait till the BC. The two races are even the same purse.

I'm just pointing out that your statement that there was "precedence" was pretty much nonsense. Obviously, Zenyatta isn't coming "east" again this year.

It was sarcasm.....a veiled attempt at humor

From what I understand, I don't think that's allowed around here :p

Shirreffs told Tim Wilkin of the Albany Times Union today that the Saratoga is NOT on Zenyatta's dance card. Jackson immediately responded by announcing the RA will contest the G1 Personal Ensign.

lol.. It that true?

Yeah, that's the way it happened. RA's camp didn't narrow her next start down to the Personal Ensign or the Personal Ensign the day after the Lady's Secret. They were waiting for the stunning decision by Shirreffs not to ship Zenyatta.

In other news today, it's been confirmed that Zenyattards are still pretty freakin lame.

How soon until Moss announces that zenyatta is shipping to Saratoga for the Personal Ensign? It might be z's only shot against Rachel at z's preferred distance of 10 furlongs. What is stopping him?

This question is perfectly logical, but it is almost ridiculous to ask at this point.

Nightmares of Manisitque?

The realization that Zenyatta will only be 99.27% ready if she were to ship that far instead of 100.00% ready?

Had Zenyatta come - RA's camp would have tried to hold out and push for a much larger purse, a distance change to 9.5 furlongs, and a Jess Jackson bobble head doll giveaway promotion the day of the race.

RA had HER chance to show up, at OP. She didn't. Her connections had committed to it. They reneged. Z's connections haven't committed to anything at SAR. The RA crew can spin it any way they want but why should she get a 2nd chance? Especially when giving her ANOTHER opportunity would require shipping your horse cross country. The RA crew can whine all they want; that's about all that having your horse NOT SHOW UP gets you.

Funny how the **** gets spun around here.

I don't think anybody's spinning anything. The horse is pointing for a race that's four weeks away. Anybody else who wants to show up - flying further east than the Ohio River or not - is welcome to do so.

jesustapdancingchrist.


i didn't know that cali horses could only ship as far as oaklawn. i did NOT know that. amazing. i didn't know that zenyatta was only good enough to face rachel off a layoff. who knew? what happened to all that talk at the beginning of the year from zenyattas crew? you know, travel, let fans see her, blah blah.

Clearly, people like TFF bought into what was obviously loads of BS.

Rachel is running in another grade 1? Already? Why doesn't she wait a week and make it a full year between grade 1's?

wait until the evening of the 29th...after she loses...the crying towels will be out.....lol.

I doubt it. It's not like she's never lost before. Besides, she already has something Zenyatta never will attain: an Eclipse award for Horse of the Year.

Many of them already think that Zenyawner is the one of the greatest horses ever, so I doubt facts will get in the way of their "reality."

Isn't having your own theme song more impressive?

What if we're all actually wrong about Zenyatta and she's actually better than we think? That's what sucks about the way they're campaigning her.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that she was kept on the sidelines as a 2-year-old and for almost all of her 3-year-old season - while a filly her own age (Rags To Riches) won the Belmont over Curlin and Hard Spun and than got hurt before they could ever meet.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that her trainer scratched her the morning of the race against favored Nashoba's Key because he felt she wasn't quite 100% from missing a few days of training weeks prior.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that Nashoba's Key died in a stall accident - which meant Zenyatta never took over her division in So. Cal - she merely inherited it from a dead horse who had obliterated everything she faced on synthetic and totally wiped out everything but the ducking Zenyatta within that division.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that the Breeders Cup was, for the first time in history, held two straight years at Santa Anita - on that terrible Pro-Ride junk - and that every Eastern dirt horse who went out there failed, most of them failed miserably.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that her trainer scratched her out of a stakes race at Churchill the morning of the race because the track was wet.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that her stablemate Life Is Sweet was offered up for the Hollywood Gold Cup and had to deal with Rail Trip when crushed on a speed-biased track - while she was safely at home in her stall.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that her competition has mostly royally sucked.

It's not Zenyatta's fault that the Clement L. Hirsch and Ladies Secret are no longer Handicaps. Azeri had to give 19lbs away to an already Grade 1 stakes placed horse when she won the Hirsch. Azeri carried 12lbs more than multiple Grade 1 winner Elloluv and 10lbs more than Grade 1 winner and Breeders Cup Distaff 3rd Got Koko in the Ladies Secret when she finished a close 3rd to the two of them. Zenyatta was level weight in those former handicaps against an alw horse in Anabaa's Creations. She would have had to give Anabaa's Creation 25lbs in weight if those two races were still handicaps and she was treated as harshly by the racing secretary as Azeri was.


Shirreffs is on the easy path to the Breeders Cup and he will have this bitch cranked up to the moon for that race - and assuming he chooses the Classic over the Distaff (a no-brainer last year - doubtful this year) he's just going to hope she falls into a Breeders Cup win the same way his Giacomo fell into a Derby win against Afleet Alex and Bellamy Road. He's two more paid workouts away from a possible daring half court heave at history. I think God is on her side.

Great post DrugS... I had completely forgotten that Zenyatta is the same age as Rags; that's crazy.

It's also not Zenyatta's fault that her trainer sent his 3rd stringer to the Fair Grounds essentially shooting down any chance that RA would end up at Oaklawn.

Do you think that she would be campaigned more aggressively this year if her unbeaten record wasn't at stake? Stakes like the Beverly D and the Jockey Club Gold Cup should be on her dancecard. Instead she faces overmatched rivals in the same boring stakes.

If she is still unbeaten by the time the BC rolls around, she won't run unless the conditions are optimal. It is unlikely that her connections will risk losing on American racing's second biggest stage when they have campaigned her to remain perfect.

100% agree with this. At best, Z is going to end her career with one difficult dirt race.

Back to Rachel...I'm likely wrong to doubt that she will show up at the Ensign. Jess isn't dumb enough to issue a press release committing to the race and then backing out. However, it's a little hard for me to believe that they are willing to duel with Life at Ten for 10F when they can get a much easier race in the Molly Pitcher at Mth the same day. Jess has already proven he get whatever he wants for purse, conditions and date changes.

they want to try rachel at 10f. perfect spot to do so.

She will probably beat Rachel at 10 furlongs. Rachel isn't as good as she was last year and it would be a good time to catch her.

I will never understand how having no balls can affect one's thinking,,,,,Balls/Brains they are located in two differant spots, yet having no balls will prevent Zenyatta from her biggest race and a chance of real racing history.

I understand that the detention barn has been done away with and Zenyatta has had plenty of time between races and her best race would be at 1 1/4 miles. Clearly Moss is not thinking with his BRAIN, Good God Man go for the GLORY. NO GUTS NO GLORY.

Do have any idea how difficult it is shipping a horse to Saratoga? Let's give Team "girl power" some space. Zenyatta is prepping for her big day at CD, she isnt racing to challenge anything as she is already on Jon White all time great list!