ARCADIA, Calif. — Amazing!
In a bravura performance that will burn brightly forever in the annals of thoroughbred racing, the undefeated mare Zenyatta soared past an international field of 11 top colts and geldings to score a brilliant victory under Mike Smith in yesterday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park.
Before a wildly cheering crowd of 58,845, the 5-year-old Amazon was last in the early going, rallied up the rail on the far turn, swung out to split horses, then gobbled up ground with her humongous stride to run by Gio Ponti in deep stretch, winning by a length.
“She wound up winning with her ears pricked again,” said a jubilant Smith. “She was well within herself. I still haven’t hit all her gears.
“If there was another horse in front of her, she would have caught him too.”
Favored at 5-2 and facing male horses for the first time in her first start at a mile-and-a-quarter, Zenyatta ran her record to 14 wins without a loss, surpassing the mark set by Personal Ensign in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Up until yesterday, that was regarded as the most stirring race in the Cup’s 26-year history. Not anymore.
“There are tears coming to my eyes,” said John Shirreffs, 64, the former combat Marine in Vietnam who trains Zenyatta for owners Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M records, and his wife, Ann. “She is all heart. It was an unbelievable emotional experience.”
Things did not go smoothly at first for the towering (17.1 hands) mare, who balked at entering the gate. Then she had to be backed out with the rest of the field when Quality Road was scratched after refusing to load. The start was delayed for 12 minutes.
“I was a little concerned after the mishap at the gate,” Smith said. “She started to get a little agitated. I thought, ‘Oh God, not today.’ ”
Zenyatta missed the break, walked out of the gate trailing the field, then began to pick it up down the backside on her own courage. But around the far turn, Smith spotted a traffic jam of horses in front of him.
“They were stacked up at the half-mile pole, and I thought, no way I was going to get around all these horses,” he said. “Then it was like the parting of the sea. I was able to cut the corner with her off the turn, and that made the difference.”
Now the debate will heat up in earnest: Who should be Horse of the Year? Rachel Alexandra, the 3-year-old super filly who beat the boys in the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward, or Zenyatta, the first female ever to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, defeating eight Grade 1 winners while remaining unbeaten in the process?
“I think it would be a crying shame if she’s not Horse of the Year,” Smith said. “She’s the horse of the decade.”
With a final time of 2:00.62 over Santa Anita’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface, Zenyatta paid $7.60 to win. Gio Ponti, likely to be voted the Eclipse Award as America’s top turf horse, completed an $87.40 exacta. Euro-invader Twice Over ran third to anchor a $1,192.40 trifecta, but the other European horse in the Classic, 3-1 second choice Rip Van Winkle, backed up on the far turn after pressing the pace and finished 10th. Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird was ninth.
And just like last year, when two-time Horse of the Year Curlin was fourth in the Classic making his first start on synthetics, Summer Bird — who’ll be the 3-year-old champion off victories in the Belmont Stakes, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup — failed to repeat his dirt form on the Pro-Ride and finished fourth.