Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

PATTI — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:43:39 GMT

YOU GOTTA LOVE ZENYATTA :)

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Racingfan — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:07:41 GMT

Thanks for acknowledging Zenyatta's part in the success of this year's Breeder's Cup. She is one for the ages! I have been waiting for another all time great racehorse to come along and I am thrilled that I was able to witness it. Her detractors will not be convinced no matter what, so I say who cares anymore...? No matter what she had done they would have found something to criticize. I have heard them say she should have run in the Pacific Classic and/or the Goodwood. BUT she already beat the winner of those races last year so how would beating him again have elevated her status...? They said she should have come east and run against the older fillies and mares. So, beating Life At Ten and Unrivalled Belle would have elevated her more that beating the females she raced against? They said she should have run in "open" company on dirt. She just beat the winners of those races with the exception of Blame, but I don't hear her getting any credit for that either. And the JCGC was run similarly to the Breeders Cup with a horse having a big lead and needing to be caught. If Blame was so spectacular why is it that he couldn't even come close to Haynesfield but Zenyatta was running Blame down with every stride after being MUCH further back to start with...? After the JCGC the excuse was that Blame didn't have a chance due to the big lead that Haynesfield had built up. Maybe that's true because when a horse has to close that much distance only a super horse has a shot. Well Zenyatta just gave Blame a much bigger head start than that and came within a head of catching him. Even if she had won, if the margin was less than a length I believe they would have been talking about how she "barely" won instead of the fact that she won. So I say again, who cares what "those people" think. Some of us can recognize and appreciate greatness and as for the rest, it is their loss. As for Draynay, since the end of last year I have been looking at the names on the posts before reading them so I can skip his nonsense!

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Karen2 — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:53:36 GMT

No Pedigree Ann...her connections kept her sound and happy and still racing as a 6 year old. Please explain to me who the "stronger" competition is that she needed to race against to prove her greatness. Males??? Any males? All males? certain males?? How about the 2009 horse of the year? Oh wait...that was a mare.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Karen2 — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:41:02 GMT

Thank you Bet Twice...when I read Stacey's comments all I could say was huh???? Of course Dray is just on this and all the other blogs to stir up trouble. To say Blame's campaign was more serious than Zenyatta's is hogwash. She did travel to the Apple Blossom to take on 2009 HOY. Blame raced against the same competition and he got beat by the same competion. Zen also put them all away. Zen has a hard time earning respect from the diehard Zen haters..I would have thought that after the effort she put forth on Saturday there wouldn't be another naysayer out there. There isn't a horse alive today that could have done what she did. There isn't a horse alive right now that can beat her at a 1 1/4 on any given day with a perfect trip. Period. Remove any obstacles and she smokes them all and makes it look easy. Her connections need to be praised for her campaign. The campaign that won Rachel Alexandra HOY last year also did her in....is that what people want to see????

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Tammie — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:41:05 GMT

I also agree with Bet Twice. New fans of Zenyatta certainly will never become horse racing fans if that is the welcome they get. However new racing fans are introduced to the sport, they won't stay if they are treated with that attitude.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Pedigree Ann — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:47:08 GMT

Bosstekfa, before he ran fourth in the BC Classic, Curlin had won the Stephen Foster, the Woodward, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and the Dubai World Cup. The only US-based horse who finished in front of him was Tiago, whose record paled in comparison.

Here's an idea you may not have considered. Zenyatta may have lost because she was short. She hadn't had a hard race all year; she hadn't had to stretch herself to reach the next level of fitness. Human athletes know you have to run against stronger competition to improve your game; horse trainers used to know it, too.

And who was it who asked why the boys didn't go out to California to meet Zenyatta? It was because she wasn't running in races they were allowed to enter.

Zenyatta is a wonderful mare and IMHO she would have been an absolute monster at 12f on grass, ala Allez France or Dahlia or All ALong. But her connections had no faith in her. They 'protected' her. From what, no one seems to specify: from running a hard race? from losing? from becoming battle-hardened? But what they really did was 'protect' her from showing us how truly great she could be.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Pam S. — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:52:21 GMT

Bet Twice,

I couldn't agree more with your response to the why-does-everyone-think-Zenyatta-attracted-new-fans post. I think the post came from a "fan" who is casting about -- futilely, I might add -- for something, anything negative to say about Zenyatta. This is an open forum and we all know that, but I hope the poster realizes how ill-considered and ill-received her comments were.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Catbird — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:08:54 GMT

If there is one thing that makes me tired at this time of the year, it's the fight over who should be HOY.

I love Zenyatta, but she does not have a lock on HOY. That's not her fault, nor is it bias of any kind. It's a flat fact: she raced all year on synthetics and not against top competition. One race on dirt, phenomenal performance, but not a win.

HOY is about a whole year, not one race, and has to take into consideration the level of competition and race conditions in a horse's campaign. Otherwise, Pepper's Pride would have been the hands-down HOY in her year. Again, not Zenyatta's fault.

That is not to say that Blame is automatically HOY, but his record reflects a more serious campaign and he did get to the line first, so voters have their work cut out for them.

To say that if Zenyatta is not HOY, racing loses credibility is just not true. The people who vote have to keep all the factors in mind, not just the popularity of the horse, or the award means nothing at all.

Glad I'm not a voter this year.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Bet Twice — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:49:59 GMT

Stacey,

That is the most bizarre and illogical post I've ever read.

Just to be clear, you are saying Zenyatta did nothing for racing because she attracted fans who didn't know anything about the sport.

By their definition, NEW fans are people who don't know much if anything about the sport. I mean, if you are an expert, you wouldn't really be a NEW fan would you?

Isn't the point to attract new people to the sport? Don't we want the fan base to grow to ensure the future of the sport? You may not have liked them (I wonder why) but you have no idea if they will stay part of the sport - look at the FOBs (fans of barbaro) and their enduring activism and enthusiasm.

I've read some crazy things on these blogs, but that one takes the cake.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Gary Tasich — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 23:28:03 GMT

BRAVO Alex....well said!

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

skippyfan — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:40:50 GMT

Stacy said: "Why does everyone think that Zenyatta has done so much for racing? Zenyatta has gained a lot of fans. However, they are not racing fans. These people couldn't name the last horse to win the Triple Crown or even who won the Derby last year. Once Zenyatta has retired, these fans will go back to their lives and racing will once again be trying to gain fans."

Everyone must start somewhere. So these people showed up at Churchill Downs, or turned the tv to ESPN this past weekend because they wanted to see if this mare everyone was talking about would make it 20-0. What they wound up witnessing was a day of fantastic racing (and if all they did was flip the channel to ESPN for the Classic, they still saw one great race). That right there might just be the spark needed to ignite someone's interest in horse racing. Will everyone that tuned into the Breeders' Cup to watch Zenyatta's attempt at the Classic become a lifelong fan? No. But if even a handful of people will, I'd say she did a great job.

Zenyatta helped bring me back to horse racing. I'd followed racing closely for a number of years (mainly through subscribing to the Blood-Horse, as I was a racing fan living in rural Montana - not exactly the best place to follow racing!). However, life eventually got in the way and I'd quit following racing for the past couple years. Thanks to the far too short-lived show Jockeys, I caught a glimpse of Zenyatta, and remembered just how thrilling racing could be.

Honestly, I think racing could have used Zenyatta for marketing far more than they did. Especially since Secretariat came out a month ago. I'd have loved to have seen the Breeders' Cup, featuring Zenyatta, being advertised before the showing of Secretariat. I'd guess that many of the people in the theater with me on opening night weren't horse racing fans (though a good number did appear to be horse/ranch people), so they should have been made aware of this big racing event that was coming up and would be fully televised, AND happened to have a big story behind it this year.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

arlingtonfan — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:30:25 GMT

Alex, I would respectfully question the phrase "near-immortality"--at least the "near" part. Zenyatta will always be remembered as one of the all-time greats for her gutsy 2010 Classic as much as for any other race.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Darla Burton — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:52:29 GMT

I didn't see any of the "dirt" horses especially the boys going to California to take on Zenyatta on her home turf. Only east running dirt horses win HOY? That does not sound right..........

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Pam S. — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:52:15 GMT

Alex,

Thanks for giving Zenyatta her due, and I hope this piece resonates with all the "fans" who would not only downgrade her achievements on the track, but trivialize her enormous appeal off the track. Thankfully, there are only a few of them, especially after Saturday.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Fran Loszynski — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:58:44 GMT

Absolutely right Judith. You acknowledge the greats and Zenyatta is the great one. Blame ran a great race "a" great race, Zenyatta ran "many" great races. You can hear all over the country now-"Why wouldn't she get Horse of The Year, they would be crazy if they don't vote for her." Three things you need for a racing industry to flourish, bottom line:

RACEHORSE, JOCKEY, FAN

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Gary Tasich — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:56:47 GMT

Zenyatta brought the crowd, increased attendance and handle. People went to see HER after the race. She's all the talk,a true champion and HOY.

Blame can be called Breeder's Cup Classic Champion but his body of work doesn't compare. She was BC Champion last year. Neither Rachel nor Blame have met Zenyatta on her home court. Yet Rachel got HOY and the justification was the surface.

Zenyatta traveled across the country and ran spectacularly on dirt. There goes the argument for last year's boondoggle. Let's not forget Curlin got HOY after finishing 4th in the BC Classic. Politics? Hmmmmm?

Zenyatta is a winner even in defeat. Blame barely beat Quality Road and Musket Man in the Whitney. He got beat by Hayensfield and only got Fly Down by a couple in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He has a record of 13-10-2-2. Zenyatta put all those horses away at first asking and is 20-19-1-0. Blame had a couple of shots at them to beat them. Have Blame travel across the country and meet her on her home track then let's see what happens. If he wins, then he's deserving. Best older horse, yes. HOY, no!

Even in defeat Zenyatta was the better horse. She got him a hop and a half after the finish.

oh forbid we should consider intangibles like emotion to determine HOY? What is HOY anyway? It transcends the BC Classic. Seems like emotion is what the east coast dirt busters used to knock a great horse like Zenyatta last year.

People will remember Zenyatta not Blame. She brought more to the game and the Breeder's cup than any other horse that competed. Go back to my first comments and when you consider the totality of the horse it's an easy choice for HOY. ZENYATTA...!!!!

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Paula Higgins — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:55:26 GMT

Draynay, I think you have mistaken this for Jason's blog. Take your tired show on the road. It's just old and boring. I never knock other horses for the sake of it like you, and I won't knock Blame. He is a very fine horse and he was a gtusy winner.

Nice blog and well said.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

dave — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:51:36 GMT

Thanks for a great piece, Alex. Though I hate to respond to anything Dray says, concentrating a racing season on the BC Classic is nothing new. Ghostzapper is merely the most prominent example of a horse that ran only four races and copped HOTY honors. I don't like this, but the racing world has been in this mode for years.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

derblin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:50:16 GMT

I must admit that Blame probably deserves HOY but some of the bloggers sure arent ready, it seems, to give her respect or any credit. I truly do feel that the connections cost her HOY not the performances of the great mare herself. True, they wanted to coddle her, put all eggs in one basket,etc but they did not want her to burn out like Rachel did this year because of last year. The unbeaten streak means nothing now, only in the history books. I can hope I am wrong, but that is not how this sport works. To me, HOY, is much like the Heisman. Doesnt mean a whole lot in the long run.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

RockHardTenGroupie — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:40:53 GMT

Thank You Mr Waldrup.... Thank you...

@ Dray... please just stop. Your bantering is, to say the least, annoying.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Freetex — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:33:11 GMT

Finally, another voice of reason.

All the media attention, handle, attendance, TV ratings and new fan base were because of Zenyatta. Otherwise, it would have been just another horse racing event that barely made it to the TV broadcasts.

Sports fans always cherish their sports' greatest champions. Zenyatta must receive Horse of the Year because she deserves it. Blame ran a great race with a great trip and not so well on his previous race. Zenyatta ran a great race every single race. She proved she has the power and heart to run like no other.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Stacy — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:23:43 GMT

Why does everyone think that Zenyatta has done so much for racing? Zenyatta has gained a lot of fans. However, they are not racing fans. These people couldn't name the last horse to win the Triple Crown or even who won the Derby last year. Once Zenyatta has retired, these fans will go back to their lives and racing will once again be trying to gain fans.

I was at Churchill Downs on Saturday and I was surrounded by a lot of Zenyatta fans. These people had no idea what was happening other than Zenyatta was trying to win 20 in a row. The best horse running on Saturday was a little Irish mare by the name of Goldikova. She won her 3rd BC Mile and no one seemed to notice.

Zenyatta is not deserving of HOY. She ran a very soft campaign against horses that had yet to win a G1 race. Like Draynay said, they should not have put all of their eggs in one basket. If you watch a replay of the BC Classic. Blame was not going to let her in front and even galloping past the wire he would not let her in front.

There will only be one person to Blame if Zenyatta loses HOY .... that is her connections.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

stevebiscuit — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:14:23 GMT

Draynay, Blame was barely able to hold off a 6 year old mare, who had a horrible trip, while running on his favorite track. Blame is no hero and will be remembered as the horse who got lucky, like Upset.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:06:45 GMT

Dray, you are a bitter little troll you really are.

No one showed up to watch Blame run and the star of the show certainly wasn't Blame.

The stars were Zenyatta, Uncle Mo and Goldikova.

Racing deserves to continue it's whimper into obscurity. Forget running flesh and blood horses, just give the gamblers their electronic ponies and let them bet and lord it over one another.

re: Zenyatta's "Hearts and Minds" Campaign

jlp918 — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:06:22 GMT

I believe Bob Baffert was once quoted saying that you know if your horse will win or lose a race at the first quarter pole. You could see that Zenyatta was in trouble the first half of the race and was farther back in the field (approximately 20 lengths) than she had ever been before in her previous starts. Most horses would have folded and Zenyatta's critics in the racing world were certainly anticipating (and hoping) that she would do just that. The "Crash and Burn" honor went to G1 winner Quality Road, once a leading contender for HOTY, who came in dead last. (Excuse? He did not like the track.) Zenyatta, on the other hand, finally settled down midway through the race, and despite all obstacles, showed her class and determination as a true champion does. She beat ALL the other contenders in that field except Blame by a short head. I believe if the first half of the race had been better for her, the outcome would have been different. (I do not blame Mike Smith for this.) Blame got the perfect trip, and Zenyatta had too much too do, yet almost pulled it off. Blame is a very good horse and winner of the race, but Zenyatta is the one getting the kudos from the public and the media (except from the cynical turf writers who wanted her to lose) for her courage. Blame is this year's "Flavor of the Month" horse who will most likely be forgotten in years to come. Zenyatta, on the other hand, will be remembered for her accomplishments and what she did for horse racing.