LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In what might not be the final start of her career after all, Zenyatta will break from post 8 in a field of 12 as the solid 8-5 favorite in Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
The 6-year-old super mare, undefeated in 19 starts, can make it a “Perfect 20” with a repeat victory in the mile-and-a-quarter Classic, the climax of the 27th Breeders’ Cup World Championships: 14 races worth $26 million in purses, to be run Friday and Saturday. ESPN2, ABC and ESPN will split the broadcasts.
Last year at Santa Anita, Zenyatta became the first female horse to win the Classic. Afterward, co-owner Jerry Moss indicated she would head to the breeding shed. But a few weeks later, the decision was made to race her again this year.
“I retired her without speaking to my wife [co-owner Ann], and that was a big mistake,” Moss said at yesterday’s post draw. “She just wasn’t ready to quit yet. She was dancing around the barn and convinced us she was ready to do it all over again.”
Then Moss dropped a bombshell about the “Queen Z” possibly racing again in 2011.
“We’re not certain,” he said. “The options are open. We’re taking it race by race. There are no plans [to breed her] after the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll see how she comes out of it, sit down and talk it over.”
Churchill oddsmaker Mike Battaglia originally pegged Zenyatta — 5-for-5 this year in Grade 1 stakes against females — as the 5-2 choice. But after taking into account her incredible popularity — she was profiled on Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” which drew 10 million viewers — he knocked her down to 8-5.
Yet this will be Zenyatta’s toughest challenge to date. Although she won the Apple Blossom on dirt twice at Oaklawn Park — by 4½ and 4 1/4 lengths, the biggest winning margins of her career — her other 17 victories came over synthetic surfaces in southern California. The Classic will be her first race east of the Mississippi.
This is by far the toughest field Zenyatta has faced. Blame, the 9-2 second choice, won five straight stakes before finishing second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and he’s 3-for-4 at Churchill.
Quality Road is 4-for-5 this year, including daylight scores in the Grade 1 Donn, Met Mile and Woodward; his only loss came by a head to Blame in the Whitney. Lookin At Lucky is the nation’s top 3-year-old with runaway wins in the Preakness and Haskell.
Haynesfield, gate-to-wire winner of the Gold Cup, and First Dude, second or third in the Preakness, Belmont Stakes, Haskell, Travers and Pennsylvania Derby, promise a quick pace — although it would have been quicker with the presence of Pennsylvania Derby winner Morning Line. But the owners of Morning Line, trained by Nick Zito, opted to run in Saturday’s $1 million Dirt Mile, where he is favored at 7-2.
Aside from the Classic’s all-star line-up, there are other standouts in the Breeders’ Cup, including a trio of Euro-invaders: the sensational French mare Goldikova, going for her third straight win in the Mile on turf; Midday, looking to repeat in the Filly & Mare Turf; and Workforce, winner of the English Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, who is the heavy favorite in the Turf but might not run if the ground is too hard.
The promising 2-year-old colts Uncle Mo and Boys At Tosconova clash in the Juvenile, where Uncle Mo’s stablemate, Stay Thirsty, is the sleeper. The 3-year-old filly Blind Luck, winner of the Kentucky Oaks here in May, headlines Friday’s Ladies’ Classic, the first Breeders’ Cup race to be run in prime time with a 7:30 p.m. post.