Zenyatta beaten in Breeders’ Cup Classic
She was the star of the show but just could not quite close out the final scene according to the script that the packed grandstand had been crying out for.
Zenyatta, long regarded by many as the queen of American racing, could not defend her title in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
The great mare went into the race unbeaten in 19 starts, 13 of them in Grade One races. But those within the sport in the US who would cast themselves as traditionalists cast doubt on her record because she had raced mainly in California.
That meant that the majority of her victories had come on what are described as synthetic tracks rather than the dirt surface that has been the staple of the sport. When Zenyatta had won last year’s Classic, it was on the Pro-Ride at Santa Anita, and the doubters said she needed to prove herself on dirt to be declared a true champion.
Well, she did her best but just came up short. But only just and it may well go down as one of her greatest performances.
The crowd was 10 deep and very noisy as she was brought in and out of the saddling boxes but John Shirreffs, Zenyatta’s trainer, had already thought of that and fitted her with earplugs but they could not even begin to shut out the reception she received, which was more than many horses had been accorded for winning a Classic. Once the gates opened Mike Smith kept Zenyatta way off the pace, as First Dude and Quality Road set the early fractions down the back stretch.
Even for a hold-up horse Zenyatta was way off the pace going into the first turn and nearly 20 lengths behind the leaders. Smith, was starting to work her a little and she was still last, although closing, on the home turn. At the sharp end Espoir City, Blame and Lookin At Lucky were all vying for the lead until Blame made the decisive move before the final furlong.
By then Smith had got Zenyatta into clear space and she was powering down the track. The giant mare was eating up the ground with every stride and the impossible seemed possible. The racecourse commentator captured the mood of the crowd as he said “it’s Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Zenyatta – she's flying,” but Blame held on to win by a head, with Fly Down third.
The victory for Blame was a career highlight for trainer Al Stall Jnr and a third Breeders’ Cup winner of the weekend for jockey Garrett Gomez, who only hooked up with the horse after he had been jocked off Lookin At Lucky by his trainer, Bob Baffert. “I’m on cloud nine. This horse has made my year,” Gomez said. “He ran a tremendous race today, the best race he’s ever run for me. He’s a great horse.”
But even as the garland was being draped around Blame’s neck it was a question of whether Smith had been to blame for Zanyatta’s first defeat?
Smith may be a veteran with nearly 5,000 winners to his name but he was finding hard to come to terms with what had just happened. As he tried to piece together the fragments of the race in his mind he said that Zenyatta had not been comfortable early in the race because of the dirt hitting her in the face from those runners in front of her. His next problem was that he could not make his move as early as he would have liked because a wall of horses in front of him that would have forced the mare too wide into the track.
The jockey bore the look of a man whose world had crumbled in the two minutes it took to run a horse race. "It was a little struggle for me early as she surprised me in that she didn't get a hold of the ground,” he said with tears in his eyes. "If we'd got a better position it would have been a different outcome because I was on the best horse in the race, trust me.
"I'm overwhelmed with emotion because I just feel that I have let her down and it is all too much to take.
"She's my everything, she's just amazing. I just wish I would have been in the race a little earlier, because I think the outcome would certainly have been different. She responded really well. Hats off to Blame, I needed him to fold a little bit and he didn't, he hung tough. She made up a whole lot of ground and to only come up a nose short is pretty tough to swallow."
This was the moment that Shirreffs had always hoped he would not have to deal with. Now confronted by defeat he faced it philosophically. "This is the first time this has happened. What are you going to do? It's horse racing.
"I'm just so happy with everything Zenyatta's done," he said. "She ran her heart out today. She ran a great race."
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