Motor City Sports

She didn’t like getting into the starting gate, and she had to do it twice. She got off to a terrible start, even by her own slow standards.

And going through the final turn, she was in 11th place.

Zenyatta has a lot … a lot of ground to make up. Zenyatta, if she wins this, she’ll be a super horse. She’s starting to pick them off though. Zenyatta going to hook to the outside. Meanwhile, it’s Colonel John and Summer Bird in the red cap … and Zenyatta’s come to the outside! Zenyatta coming flying on the grandstand side! Gio Ponti on the inside, Summer Bird is right there … this is UN-BEE-LEE-VABLE! ZENYATTA! What a performance! This is one we’ll never forget! It looked impossible, but it is Zenyatta! Still unbeaten!

Rachel Alexandra has probably had the greatest year ever by a filly – the accomplishments are just incredible. When she ran against other females, she set track records. She set records for biggest margins of victory in two of the biggest 3-year-old filly races of the year. Then she beat the boys in the Preakness, and again in the Haskell. And then she went against older males in the Woodward Stakes, and became the first filly to win ever that race. Heck, she was only the second 3-year-old of any gender to win it since 1990.

But she didn’t come to the Breeders’ Cup. It was 5-year-old Zenyatta as the token mare in the Classic. She was 13-for-13 against other females, but she’d never raced against male horses. On paper, she wasn’t as fast as many of the males. If anything, it looked like she had missed her best chance last year, when her owners chose to race in her the Ladies’ Classic. Apparently, no one told her any of that.

Is Zenyatta the greatest female horse ever? Probably not. But you know what? She’s beaten every horse they’ve ever put in a gate beside her, and when it comes to females that have won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the list begins and ends with her.