Zenyatta v. Rail Trip??

[the_fat_man]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

As the one who started this thread, I'll confess that in the Zenyatta v. RA discussion, I came down on the Zenyatta side. As a Zenyatta fan, I'd like to see what she can do when tested. Along those lines, when they "unretired" Zenyatta, the Mosses stated that the whole point of bringing Zenyatta back this year, having won the BC Classic at 10F against males, was to do something different and challenge their mare. Judged against that standard, a decision to run against what likely would be a field of allowance caliber of fillies in the Vanity rather than against the top handicap male on the West Coast in an historic race would be rather disappointing. And at that point, it's hard to defend against the criticism that her connections have carefully picked a "cupcake" schedule for their mare.

Yeah

So, we haven't yet come to a consensus that Z is the best FEMALE currently in training, as the RA contingent would tell you that RA is still better. But let's assume, so I can make a reasonable point, that Z is the best MARE in training presently. Why then don't some of the other top fillies/mares in the country get their asses over to CALI and run against her? Or, if their connections don't want to ship across the country (as Z's crew is criticized for not doing more often) why not just start squaring off against the best males? Certainly, if they could beat some of the better males, then an argument could be made that they're better than Z. What's the problem, THEIR connections don't have the NUTS to map out CHALLENGING campaigns for them? Who the **** with a decent horse wants to pick the most challenging races ALL the time? For the most part, they pick out a few races a year they point to. For you, however, it's not enough that this mare was prepared for the AB or that she's being pointed for the BC. She absolutely, positively must face, arguably, the best male out in CALI in order for her connections to be doing the right thing. I don't see QR running a bunch of races and shipping all over the place. He's being pointed to a few key races for the year. Oh, but wait, he got TESTED down in Florida didn't he?
He went up against some real tough competition down there.

Let's hold Z to different standards, however.