Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Bellwether — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 06:02:08 GMT

LET EM FLY BABY!!!...IT$ ALL BEN GOOD @ THE BC...ty...

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Pat — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:32:24 GMT

Esther, I always enjoy your BH pieces. I've even created a folder for you on my external HD, to capture everything you publish about the 2010 BC as seen through your eyes. Keep up the great work and keep those 2010 updates coming. You have a Canadian fan! Go Zenyatta!

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

JOE — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:55:16 GMT

Zenyatta will not even be in the money. Quality Road all the way wins by 20 lengths.

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Dona — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:53:26 GMT

Thanks Esther but could you do me a favor and remove my email from the entry. I made a mistake in typing my name in the "display name box". Thanks again, Dona

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Fuzzy Corgi — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:59:57 GMT

My Breeders' Cup experiences have all been on tv (haven't missed one yet), but a friend of mine who was a Zenyatta naysayer was invited to Santa Anita last year. Let's just say he is a naysayer no longer.

Monty - if what you say is true about Zenyatta running in 2011 then I'm amazingly happy! But I may need to talk to my doctor about prescribing me sedatives for her races. Zenyatta almost gave us a heart attack in the Vanity and Lady's Secret this year. And then she won and the crowd went wild! Heart attack averted.

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Esther Marr — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:46:39 GMT

Thanks for sharing you great Breeders' Cup experiences, parksdona! I love it that you were on 60 Minutes. What a great memory!

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Monty — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:21:39 GMT

Great photos, thanks ! Just heard Mrs. Moss wants the queen to stick around for the 2011 season if she stays healthy, & spunky, as she usually is ! Wow, another year to adore the queen, one can only hope ? Let's hope the track stays "dry" for her Sat. GO ZENYATTA !

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

Blue Blue Sea — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:25:15 GMT

Z is a KY bred, so this would hardly be here first taste of KY grass, just saying. Crowd looks a bit thin around her.

Hoping for an exciting Breeder's Cup though.

re: Sights and Thoughts from Day 1 of My Breeders' Cup Week

parksdona@yaho.com — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:05:47 GMT

2009 was the year for me.

It was my birthday, I had gotten a BC t-shirt and cap from a friend as a gift and wore them on both days of the event. I secured a spot on the rail, fairly close to the winners circle because I wanted a long clear sight of the post parades and to be able to take as many unobstructed pictures as possible.

Both days were wonderful and I had a few winning tickets, not due to any great handicapping ability but based on a personal bias of sorts. Such as I love Carla Gaines as a trainer so I bet on her horse. Then came the classic and all my dreams of that day came true.

I loved Einstein and was so unhappy that I missed his prior trip to California, so to see him in person was a big thrill but my heart belonged to Zenyatta in this race.

I had plenty of time to make friends with everyone around me and some had never seen her before, so it was great fun for me to enlighten them on her virtues and capabilities. By the time the race started, I think the crowd near me was in a frienzy. Noisy and loud, it was like the olden days when Native Diver ran there or John Henry. Zenyatta didn't disappoint us and the day was complete, almost.

Actually, John Sheriffs stopped and threw his hat right into our little group, being to short, I couldn't reach it but I tried my best. We screamed, cried and totally enjoying the moment.

The crowning glory for me was after I came home and saw the video of her winning parade, there I was, arms in the air, looking like a idiot, but forever caught on video with Zenyatta.

The same happened in the CBS video, there I was, in my t-shirt for all the world to see on 60 minutes. Quite an experience.