I need to listen to ATR more often

[CSC]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

There's no synthetic history to go on. Who do you compare her to?

While it is fair to question her dirt form because really she hasn't raced on it enough to gauge whether she will be just as good or better on it, you can't take away what she has done on the "synthetics". People like to make the point she beat just turf horses in the classic, since turf horses handle synth just as good if not better, she then beat some pretty good turf, dirt, and synth runners in the BCC last year. Infact she made minced meat out of them. You can take issue she hasn't been tested on dirt, you can take issue with her campaign, but you cannot take issue with the field she beat last fall at SA, to do so you are ignoring all the Euro's that have fared well on synth the last 2 yrs at SA.

[Gaining Ground]

Originally Posted by CSC

While it is fair to question her dirt form because really she hasn't raced on it enough to gauge whether she will be just as good or better on it, you can't take away what she has done on the "synthetics". People like to make the point she beat just turf horses in the classic, since turf horses handle synth just as good if not better, she then beat some pretty good turf, dirt, and synth runners in the BCC last year. Infact she made minced meat out of them. You can take issue she hasn't been tested on dirt, you can take issue with her campaign, but you cannot take issue with the field she beat last fall at SA, to do so you are ignoring all the Euro's that have fared well on synth the last 2 yrs at SA.

i dont know if you missed it or not but i asked a question in another thread and am curious about your thoughts. zenyatta is clearly the best synthetic runner we have seen. she might be the best synthetic runner we will ever see. until we are able to see more what is wrong with calling her the best synthetic runner of all time, but not one of the best of all time?

if american racing has historically been dirt and turf, why are some so quick to annoint greatness to a horse who has made 2 starts on one of the surfaces we determine greatness on? i know people want to say synthetics are here and i agree, they are.

tennis seems like a good analogy here. rafael nadal is the best clay court player, maybe ever. but, hes also beat the best on grass and hard court. so far zenyatta has beaten the equine quivalent of james blake on dirt and people want to compare her to rod laver.

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Gaining Ground

i dont know if you missed it or not but i asked a question in another thread and am curious about your thoughts. zenyatta is clearly the best synthetic runner we have seen. she might be the best synthetic runner we will ever see. until we are able to see more what is wrong with calling her the best synthetic runner of all time, but not one of the best of all time?

if american racing has historically been dirt and turf, why are some so quick to annoint greatness to a horse who has made 2 starts on one of the surfaces we determine greatness on? i know people want to say synthetics are here and i agree, they are.

tennis seems like a good analogy here. rafael nadal is the best clay court player, maybe ever. but, hes also beat the best on grass and hard court. so far zenyatta has beaten the equine quivalent of james blake on dirt and people want to compare her to rod laver.

I wouldn't object to people calling her the greatest horse of the synthetics era, this discussion has many layers, supposing she ran only on dirt and won those 17 races in a row, many would still question what she has beaten? I believe if she were able to capture the BCC this fall, one would have to be forced to look at her as one of the greatest in the game. I'm not sure what the naysayer would say then, but seeing how many do not want to put her in that select group, I'm sure something trivial will be produced, even if she answers the only question left in her career, beating males on dirt in the toughest dirt race in the world.