Horse racing column: Zenyatta's snub a low point of 2010 |
| Horse racing column: Zenyatta's snub a low point of 2010 Posted: 01 Jan 2011 12:40 AM PST Published: 1/1/2011 2:29 AM Last Modified: 1/1/2011 6:30 AM Here is a look back at this crazy year and things I liked most and the things I liked least as we look forward to the 2011 Kentucky Derby, only about 125 days away: Least favorite moments: The year began like a lead balloon with Rachel Alexandra receiving Champion Horse of the Year because the buffoons with their East Coast-biased voting bloc not seeing the forest for the trees. They didn't have the sense given to a horseshoe to realize Zenyatta was the obvious choice, winning the year's biggest race - The Breeders' Cup Classic. Rachel should have been named Champion Dodgeball Horse of the Year for not once stepping into the ring with Zenyatta when she had the opportunities. Rachel came back as a 4-year-old and couldn't warm up allowance horses in her first few races of 2010. Horses that beat her early in the year came back and were soundly defeated in their next starts. Her pundits then began grumbling, "Well, she's not the same horse as she was last year." That's a bunch of beans. She was exactly the same horse. She was just facing tougher, older horses. Meanwhile, Zenyatta went on to win 19 in a row, losing her final race only because she ran out of time. Zenyatta will probably not win Horse of the Year in 2010 either because she lost by that short head to Blame, but I'll bet anyone in his right mind that 20 years from now, 100 out of 100 people will know who you are talking about when Zenyatta's name comes up but won't have a clue what horse was Horse of the Year in 2009 or 2010.Another tragic moment in this racing year was the death of the all-time winningest Oklahoma-bred horse, Kip Deville, who was a winner in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Mile. Kip Deville battled surgery for colic and then laminitis before this beautiful dappled gray horse succumbed. Other famous racehorses we lost this year included some of my all-time favorites, among them Personal Ensign, who was the closest thing to Zenyatta in most recent history. She defeated Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in the Breeders' Cup Distaff to finish her career at 13-for-13. We also lost 1986 Kentucky Derby favorite and Preakness winner Snow Chief, one of the most beautiful black horses I've ever seen; 1988 Arkansas Derby winner Proper Reality; 1988 unbeaten favorite of the Kentucky Derby, Private Terms; With Approval, second in the Breeders' Cup Turf in 1990 and the Arlington Million; 1994 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Flanders; 1991 Breeders Cup Classic winner Black Tie Affair; sire of 117 stakes winners, Dixieland Band; runner-up in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Turf, Singspiel, who won major races on three different continents on dirt and grass; near-Triple Crown winner Real Quiet, who won the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness before losing by a nostril hair in the Belmont to Victory Gallop; and Skip Away, winner of the Horse of the Year in 1998 after taking the Breeders' Cup Classic. And of course my least favorite moment of the year in horse racing had to be jockey Tad Leggett breaking his neck in a race at Fair Meadows in Tulsa when his horse fell and landed on him in the first turn. We also lost the great Hall of Fame quarter horse First Down Dash. On the human side of the game, we lost Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel; trainer of 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, Mack Miller; and 1961 Kentucky Derby-winning jockey aboard Carry Back, John Sellers, who had lived in Claremore. Favorite moments: Any time Zenyatta, the Queen of racing, stepped onto the track and began her dance of life, prancing before every crowd that beheld her glorious presence. She not only had a following that surpassed horse racing fans, but she also knew it. She was one of the smartest and most entertaining racehorses ever to set foot on the track. Richard Linihan is marketing director for Fair Meadows of Tulsa. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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