Crist: The great distaffers..

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by HomerS

I guess the point I am trying to bring out here in Sky Beauty discussion is people who like Sky Beauty will come up with reasons and excuses to justify a preconceived opinion, not to form an opinion. Which is human nature. Just like people who for whatever reason dont like Zenyetta will always be able to come up with something, some angle to diminish.

Not saying that we can't be unbiased and treat each horse on its own, but just seen this too many times. If someone likes something or somebody they will give every benefit of the doubt to their preconceived opinion, making it almost impossible to pierce it. If anything people have a stronger tendency to dig their heels in more. To up the ante. The more Zenyetta wins the higher the ante will be. With more reasons why she isn't what she appears to be. Should she lose then all prior criticism automatically becomes "fact" now that she has lost.

Of course this is true. But my issue with Zenyatta is that if she had lost by a nose last year at Delmar we wouldn't be having this discussion. Winning the Classic was a great feat yet when you consider the quality of the field you can't maintain that she should be declared the equal(or greater) of all prior BC Classic winners. The streak is great yet when taken into the context of the surface issue and race selection it isn't exactly the equal of Cigar's winning streak (I'd say Citation as well but I can't say that I am familiar enough with the period to really comment on it accurately). These aren't criticisms of the horse. They are a sober critique of her qualifications.

I said last year that Jackson's "sportingness" was being overrated because of the fact that RA was an overwhelming fav in every spot that she ran in. That isn't saying that it wasn't a great accomplishment to run in and win the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward. It was. But I severely doubt that had the competition been merely average for those races that he would have been nearly as "sporting". He was taking advantage of the situation that was presented to him and that is fine. But it doesn't make her the greatest horse to ever look through a bridle. It made her a great horse with a willing owner that took advantage of some weak fields in races that are traditionally strong. Her races this year are proof that the modern way of campaigning horses makes it nearly impossible for the horses of today to ever compare to the horses of years past. The abbreviated, "managed" campaigns simply dont allow us to get a true measure of a horse.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by HomerS

I wouldnt Zenyetta with the all time classic horses (and I woudlnt put Cigar in either but thats another discussion ha ha) but within her own sex for sure. Not even saying superior to those but in the discussion. One of the reasons I think Rachel did deserve HOY since it was so close, is because she won grade ones on several different tracks under differing conditions. What made is so close was winning the Classic, weak field or not. That was a historic win from the mare angle.

I too thought RA deserved the HoY because the sum of her accomplishments were greater than Zenyatta's which were almost all tied into one race. The closeness of the vote was probably due to the fact that many of the voters are witless and the fact that Zenyatta's race was much more recent when they cast their votes. If you unemotionally look at the pp's for the 2 horses last year it is hard to make a case that Zenyatta had a better year or accomplished more than RA did.

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I too thought RA deserved the HoY because the sum of her accomplishments were greater than Zenyatta's which were almost all tied into one race. The closeness of the vote was probably due to the fact that many of the voters are witless and the fact that Zenyatta's race was much more recent when they cast their votes. If you unemotionally look at the pp's for the 2 horses last year it is hard to make a case that Zenyatta had a better year or accomplished more than RA did.

i agree, rachel did more and shes paying a price for it. she deserved HOY for pushing the envelope to the limit. but, these people are ruled by emotions and don't even see the weakness in that when gambling. the best horses rachel beat were chump change to zenyatta. someone said zenyatta beat a weak field in the classic...those horses were way better than macho again and bullsbay and she did it at 10 furlongs. this year theres no comparison, so far, rachel lost to zenyatta's sparring partner. a horse thats not even in her league as she rolled past her last sunday. the other horse that beat rachel comes back and loses convincingly at belmont. meanwhile, zenyatta wins and wins dirt or poly. comparing this years pp's is like apples and oranges. the emotions coming out are people crying over the obvious.......lol

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by johnny pinwheel

i agree, rachel did more and shes paying a price for it. she deserved HOY for pushing the envelope to the limit. but, these people are ruled by emotions and don't even see the weakness in that when gambling. the best horses rachel beat were chump change to zenyatta. someone said zenyatta beat a weak field in the classic...those horses were way better than macho again and bullsbay and she did it at 10 furlongs. this year theres no comparison, so far, rachel lost to zenyatta's sparring partner. a horse thats not even in her league as she rolled past her last sunday. the other horse that beat rachel comes back and loses convincingly at belmont. meanwhile, zenyatta wins and wins dirt or poly. comparing this years pp's is like apples and oranges. the emotions coming out are people crying over the obvious.......lol

I dispute that RA is paying any price for anything. If both horses competition is considered soft, does it really matter whose was softer? It is still not up to par when you compare these horses to other great horses. I can't find much fault in RA's campaign last year because even though the fields she faced were at least below average for those races, she competed in races that really matter. The Preakness, Haskell, and Woodward are far more prestigious that anything that Zenyatta ever ran in besides a BC race. Sadly that remains true and looks like it wont change.