Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra Make their 2010 Debuts! (Horse racing)

[danceronice]

Zenyatta returns with a win through traffic in the Santa Margarita under another hand ride by Mike Smith!

Race Chart from Equibase

Rachel makes her 2010 debut in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes...and loses in a shocking upset to Zardana, Zenyatta's stablemate who shipped east for the race.

Race Chart from Equibase

[sk8pics]

Zenyatta was amazing! The way she weaved her way through and then just ran away from the others was fantastic. Such a big mare, but so agile. And still under a hand ride, like she's out for a Sunday stroll.

[skipaway]

Zenyatta was amazing, but I felt Mike Smith really cut off Pretty Katerine when he ducked into the rail position. She noticeably had to take up when Zenyatta came in. No, I wouldn't take down Zenyatta, but Mike should be more careful.

RA obviously needed a race. I don't think she'll be ready for Zenyatta in 3 weeks. I predict Jess Jackson will pull her from that race.

[danceronice]

I can't see how her connections can pull RA after whining and getting the date moved and she needs a race and blah blah blah all to accommodate them and not lose face. They already showed they don't do what's best for the horse by running her now after bad works and WAY too long a layoff.

I don't think RA will ever really be ready for Zenyatta. RA had to dig down against the boys with good trips. Zenyatta's beaten the best with bad trips, never needed the whip, and with her ears up. The scary thing about Queen Z is that it really looks as if she's never had to even TRY. There's never been a horse who's pushed her to find that top gear. (If only Sea The Stars connections had opted to ship him to North America for the Classic--he might have made a race of it with her.)

[sk8pics]

I just get chills thinking about Zenyatta and Mike's statements that he's never gotten to the bottom of her. No matter what happens in front of her, every race is the same: break slowly, lag behind, look almost hopelessly out of it, run hard in the stretch and pass everyone, no matter how slow the pace. She is amazing! And so beautiful!

A friend of mine got to meet her the day after the Breeder's Cup last November. I was so jealous!

[skipaway]

RA is out of the Apple Blossom. I think this is a good decision by the connections. She is clearly not ready for a race with Zenyatta.

No Meeting with Zenyatta in April

[danceronice]

Someone over on COTH heard whispers about retiring her. Assmussen screwed the pooch on this one.

[sk8pics]

Cute photo of Asmussen with Rachel in that article.

Oh well, if they retire RA I won't be shocked, but it is a shame. I wonder if it is just fitness or if she just doesn't feel the same, if she just didn't come out the same horse this year. I'm glad they've decided not to try to rush her training any more, but I think they were foolish to try to do it in the first place.

So now we can root for Zenyatta to win her 16th straight!

[danceronice]

He wouldn't have had to rush her if he hadn't given her five months "off" but instead of sending her somewhere for turnout for a month or two he kept her on a track, but not working heavily, then tried to do it all in the last month or so.

I want to see them meet up--retire her now and I would have a very time accepting any argument that Rachel's more than same-old, same-old, just with two X chromasomes-another three-year-old flash in the pan who peaked.

Not that they both don't have a LONG way to go to catch the winningest horse of either gender of all time,Kinscem, but Zenyatta I think could match Cigar....

[sk8pics]

Zenyatta races on Friday! Don't forget! She got quite the welcome when she arrived in Arkansas on Tuesday... Here's the latest article:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111993.html

Some excerpts:
"Any way you measure it, Zenyatta towers over her four rivals Friday in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park.

She has never been beaten in 15 starts. They have been defeated 40 times.

She has earned $5,624,580. They can't scrounge up $1.3 million among them.

She stands slightly more than 17 hands tall and weighs some 1,200 pounds. They average 16 hands in height and 1,100 pounds...

"I hope Be Fair doesn't hate me for going against Zenyatta," trainer D. Wayne Lukas said of his horse, a petite front-runner. "I might put full-cup blinkers on her and cover her up completely until they get to the gate so she doesn't see Zenyatta."

Be Fair and Just Jenda won't be helped by the fact Zenyatta shipped in quite well, spending some of her time in Arkansas grazing and sipping the Fiji bottled water that accompanies her whenever she travels. ..."

[sk8pics]

And one more article. This one has a video with a montage of her first 14 wins. Very cool, especially her Breeders' Cup Ladies win where she was like 7 wide around the last turn.

http://www.fanhouse.com/2010/04/07/z...port-of-kings/

[Lacey]

Will any of her (their?) races be on tv?

[skipaway]

Will any of her (their?) races be on tv?

Zenyatta's last race (her first since the Breeder's Cup Classic) was shown on ESPNews channel. They cut into their news broadcast as they were loading into the gate. I'm not sure if they'll do it again, but considering she's attempting to tie Citation's consecutive win record, I hope they do.
Also, if you have HRTV on Dish or cable they'll carry it.
post time is 6:25pm CST (7:25pm EST, 4:25pm Pacific)

[skipaway]

Zenyatta tied Citations 16-0 win record today in the Apple Blossom

[Rottie]

She is amazing!

[genevieve]

Hooray Zenyatta!

[skipaway]

This article has the Video replay of the AB.

Video Replay

[Rottie]

Thanks for that link, skipaway. Her move is *so* effortless! It's like, there are other horses on the track?

[genevieve]

she sure likes coming in from the outside

[Jimena]

She's so beautiful. It's amazing. She wasn't even running hard- it didn't look like she was putting that much effort into it!