'Bid, how long have you been watching racing? This was 'a wonderful campaign'! My God, it reminded me of the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals. You have to make it close for the fans, but you always knew who was going to win. And she didn't even carry a decent weight all year against the overmatched fields she faced.
I remember when Ta Wee carried 142 lbs to win the 1970 Interborough H, conceding 29 lbs to the second horse and 30 lbs to the third horse; she was a sprinter for the ages. So Zenyatta won the Vanity under 129 the last 2 year. Cascapedia won the Vanity under 129, and she had to give weight to major runners Bastonera and Swingtime. Silver Spoon, who won the Santa Anita Derby at 3, won both the Vanity and Santa Margarita under 130 lbs. Gallant Bloom, an undefeated 8-for-8 champion at 3, won the Santa Margarita under 129. Then these mares were asked to carry even MORE weight in subsequent races and they lost. Zenyatta's folks put in her level weight races instead, more Harlem Globetrotter stuff.
Of course, the racing secretaries deserve some brickbats here, for failing to weight this horse as she had proved she deserved. If they had, she would have had to race against males to get weight relief. You do realize that Blame was carrying 3 MORE lbs than Zenyatta, right?
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