Valiant loss puts Zenyatta's prowess in perspective

[tector]

Seems about right to me.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...110704076.html

Valiant loss puts Zenyatta's prowess in perspective

By Andrew Beyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 8, 2010; 12:26 AM

The nationwide television audience watching "Zenyatta: A Quest for Perfection" and the 72,739 people cheering for the mare at Churchill Downs surely felt deflated when she lost to Blame in the Breeders' Cup Classic. They shouldn't have despaired. Zenyatta was more ennobled by this defeat than by almost anything she did during the 19-race winning streak she brought into Saturday's race.

Although she regularly won races with electrifying rallies in the stretch, none was so impressive as her charge from a hopeless position with a half mile to run-dead last and 15 lengths behind the leaders-that brought her into a photo finish with Blame.

Because the finish was so close, many fans have second-guessed jockey Mike Smith for letting the mare drop too far behind in the early stages of the race. Smith blamed himself, too, saying, "I feel like I let her down. I left her too much to do. I had to put the brakes on at the quarter pole. . . . I just know she was the best horse in the race."

Smith was being too hard on himself. In fact, he secured for Zenyatta a trip as smooth as a horse can reasonably expect when coming from last place in a 12-horse field. The mare saved ground around most of the turn, eased to the outside for clear running room, and never had her momentum broken. She was so far behind not because of any tactical error by Smith but because of the way the Classic developed. It underscored the fundamental differences between races on dirt and the synthetic tracks where Zenyatta had posted 17 of her victories.