Horse Racing: Trainer flaunts Zenyatta for Horse of the Year
Zenyatta was a runner for the Horse of the Year 2009, Rachael Alexandra ended up taking the winning title though. Zenyatta’s trainer John Shirreffs was utterly disappointed when his 6 year old mare could not make it to the top honour in the sport. Talking
to correspondents on Friday he said that the decision should be independent of the results of the Breeder’s Cup Classic which is due to take place next month.
Zenyatta’s credentials are strong enough for her to bag the title. She has a perfect record. Zenyatta is the only horse this year who has not lost a single meet during her career. It is expected of her to defend her title at Churchill Downs on November 6th
and if that happens then there is no doubt that Zenyatta will be the reigning Queen of horse racing. Zenyatta also came into the spotlight after the brilliant performance that she gave at Hollywood Park, her home track, on the 1st of October
in the Lady’s Secret Stakes. She not only won the $ 250,000 at this event, but made a significant impact on the fans and trainers.
Even though, Zenyatta was the winner of the Breeder’s Classic Cup last fall, Rachael managed to win the maximum number of votes for the Horse of the Year Award. This seriously offended her trainer, and he took the defeat quite personally.
John Sheriff was reported as saying, “I would think that would be almost too much. For what she has done for the horse industry over the last three years, T would have to say that would be a real slap in the face.”
At another point, the enthusiastic trainer was also quoted as saying, “I thought it was absolutely fair that Rachael Alexandra won the Eclipse Award, I thought that was great, but I think Zenyatta was equally great.”
Fans, trainers and experts, are all excited that they will be seeing Zenyatta run against Preakness champion Lookin At Lucky, Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Blame and winner of the Woodward Stakes Quality Road, in the Breeder’s Cup Classic next month. The race
will be run on a dirt track. Zenyatta has run on the dirt track just twice, but according to Sheriff she will do great because it’s her favourite track.
As a final comment about the Breeder’s Cup, Sheriff said, “As far as I am concerned, she’s just one of the best ever.”
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