Heading into the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday I had two thoughts, Zenyatta will not hit the board and her streak of 19 wins in a row will finally come to an end. Well I was right on one of those thoughts, she didn’t win and her streak did come to an end, but I was wrong because she did more than hit the board.

I was wrong about her ability and I am not afraid to say it. I knew she wasn’t beating much in all of her wins, they for the majority were coming over synthetic surfaces and she wasn’t winning by much. She would have to travel to Churchill Downs, run over a dirt surface she had never run over and defeat a field of 12 very solid racehorses and do it by coming from last.

She is the most popular racehorse I have seen in a very long time, maybe ever, at least in my lifetime. She brought people to the track, they loved to see her race and she was always very exciting, getting up in the last few strides to stay undefeated. However, that win streak came to an end on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at Churchill Downs. However, what most people that aren’t horse racing diehards like myself is that she ran her best race in defeat.

After getting away last as she always does, she took a while to get into a rhythm and was forced to make up more ground just to get up to the field. She had to steady just a bit heading into the lane and closed strongly down the center of the track to just by a head to BLAME, the leading older horse in the country. She was more than three lengths clear of the show horse and proved that she was one of the greatest female racehorses, but the best of all time would be very hard for me to say. She proved that she can bring her run over any surface and that early fractions don’t matter that much. She proved to me that she is a great racehorse who may be the best in the country but again she might fall just short of Horse of the Year. That title should go to BLAME. After all he ran his record to 4 for 5, with one second place finish, three Grade I’s and a head to head defeat over ZENYATTA, no pun intended.

This doesn’t guarantee victory because of ZENYATTA’S popularity and the snub many felt she got last year when she finished second behind RACHEL ALEXANDRA. In the Sunday edition (10/31/10) of the Daily Racing Form, Steven Crist wrote an article about how ZENYATTA must earn horse of the year title on the track. He put a portion of an article by New York Times writer Joe Drape who basically said, Whether she wins or loses ZENYATTA should be Horse of the Year. The thought was she should have won it last year. The problem is this, the award is Horse of the Year not “Career” of the year. She didn’t have a better year that RACHEL ALEXANDRA in 2009, part of that was because racing’s biggest day was run over a synthetic surface in 2009 and the two horses behind her were turf horses. Secondly, she didn’t have a better year than BLAME this year and she once again should finish second in the voting.

However, that is not guaranteed especially with certain writers making those statements before the race is run. Whether she wins it or not, she proved to me and many other racing experts that she did indeed belong and she came up a head short of going down as perhaps the best female racehorse of all-time.