I caught the 60 Minutes report on the undefeated mare Zenyatta last night. 19 starts and 19 wins.
She’s running her final race in the Breeders Cup Classic on November 6th. I so hope she wins and retires undefeated.
I’ll be there! I haven’t seen her in person before.
I hope she wins, although I might bet longshots in the Classic.
I saw this meeting last year on TV and Zenyatta was certainly the highlight.
She is a ‘proper’ horse and I hope she wins. Her style of racing guarantees a dramatic heat and, seeing her for the first time in 2009, I was very surprised she got there in the end. A brilliant performance.
We are sending at least three horses with a favourite’s chance. Goldikova bids for a third victory in the Mile, having collected the prize at Santa Anita in 2008 and 2009. The French mare is as good as ever this year and recently established a new European record of eleven Group 1 career wins. Goldikova is generally available at 5/4. This is too short for me, and anyway I’d be more confident of her chance if the surface was Polytrack and not dirt.
Midday runs in the Filly and Mare Turf. The winner in this event in 2009, she is better than ever this year in my book. Midday is best priced even money over here, which again is too short for my money, but I expect her to win.
Workforce in the Turf is an interesting runner. After winning the Derby 7 lengths in June, he ran inexplicably badly in another Group 1 in July. After a 10 week absence he was brought back to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe early last month. The Derby and the Arc are the two most important Group Ones in the European calendar. The colt is best priced 5/4 on the book, but victory depends on which Workforce turns up on the day.
Incidentally, I can get 7/2 about Zenyatta. Is that a price I should think about taking?
I saw last year’s Breeder’s Cup when Zenyatta blew away the field in a very exciting stretch run. Before the last race my friend traded a cigarette for a press pass, and gave it to me, I got within a few feet of Z after the race.
Her two wins were on turf, and the Mile this year is also on Turf. There is a Dirt Mile, but she’s not running in that.
She’ll be about 2-1 here, so those are good odds if you like her.
My silly error - thanks for the correction.
When I checked a few hours later the price had collapsed to 7/4 so I declined. This decision saved me (a) money and (b) a heart attack.
[quote=“Chez_Guevara, post:3, topic:559106”]
We are sending at least three horses with a favourite’s chance. Goldikova bids for a third victory in the Mile, having collected the prize at Santa Anita in 2008 and 2009. The French mare is as good as ever this year and recently established a new European record of eleven Group 1 career wins. Goldikova is generally available at 5/4. This is too short for me, and anyway I’d be more confident of her chance if the surface was Polytrack and not dirt.
Small Nitpick: Goldikova is actually Irish, but she is French-owned. Great Horse! And she’s racing again in 2011, hopefully going for four Breeders’ Cup victories!
I guess it’s a matter of terminology.
We normally refer to the location of the horse’s trainer when talking about nationality and, of course, Goldikova is French-trained as well as French-owned.
She has much in common with dual Turf Mile winner Miesque (1987/1988) but the latter was retired at 4, so to see Goldikova on the track next year will be fabulous.
I think Zenyatta got a bad ride.