Quote:
Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
The problem is that we are still speculating about a 6 year old horse that has 18 starts and now her entire legacy will boil down to one start and again her competition will play a bigger part in her performance than it should. That just isnt how the game is supposed to be played.
IMO of all the leading contenders she is probably is best suited to win a 1 1/4 race. I just hope she loses so that we don't have more of the idiotic, copy-catting that goes on in this game. That is the reason why big owners seem to feel like there are only 5 guys who can train a stake horse. That is the reason why every horse is now campaigned in kid gloves, start every 7-8 weeks if that. And if she is sucessful (or RA for that matter) in making the entire 365 day year come down to only 1 race (essentially a lottery drawing) that matters then the sport of horse racing is further doomed to obscurity.
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I agree that is not how the game is supposed to be played. That is why (despite my admiration for Zenyatta) I firmly believed the HOY should have gone to Rachel Alexandra last year. Her overall campaign was by far more impressive because she was actually allowed to prove her ability repeatedly and therefore should be rewarded with the ultimate prize.
However, just because it may be a bad precedent for the sport, Zenyatta should be the one being judged and not her connections. And sadly for those who feel she can't be judged appropriately by her previous 18 races (either due to surface or competition), her legacy to them will be judged by a single race. I have no problem with people taking that stance. I have a problem with people who feel they can judge her negatively based on her previous 18 races which I find to be an indefensible position. From what I have seen she has already proven herself to be a great mare, but I don't believe we have seen her best performance yet (because she hasn't faced the best competition yet), and she will have to bring that out in the Classic if she is going to prove herself to be the super horse on dirt. It's a shame that she will only have been given the chance to be full out twice in a 20 race career.