Zenyatta Fans Warned Off
Zenyatta, Mike Smith and Mario Espinoza winning the Breeders' Cup Classic
in 2009.
Pre-Breeders' Cup Classic articles from the voting press in the Horse of the Year Awards overwhelmingly warned that Zenyatta was never likely to win HOY no matter what she did in the Classic.
Part of their argument is that her five Grade 1s don't have the same value as Blame's three, because he raced against males in prestigious East Coast races and she raced against females on the West Coast.
Neither her record 2010 earnings, her popularity, her service in bringing so many to racing, nor her winning the 2009 Classic against males were sufficient reasons to award her HOY.
Her 2009 Classic was discounted as last year's victory. She did not win HOY that year as it was given to the brilliant three-year old filly Rachel Alexandra instead.
Two of the three groups who vote refused to consider a 2009 Co-HOY suggested by the Turf press.
Zenyatta fans were deeply disappointed and the decision has left a worldwide distaste of the voting process.
Several writers who refused to consider her for 2010 HOY have written that they changed their minds despite her losing the Classic to Blame by a short head.
Rumours aboud that she will receive a compensation prize of induction into the Horse of Fame.
The Washington Post's Andrew Beyer awarded a 111 Beyer rating for the Classic to both Zenyatta and Blame.
Despite losing the race, her fans organised to support her for HOY in various social networks such as facebook and twitter.
When they informed prominent members of the press that they organised to support Zenyatta, they were warned by several writers not to contact the press as some members might vote against her in pique.
The press seems to have made an exception for Blame's owner who is campaigning very hard to win the Award which will enhance his colt's stud value and farm profits.
Some cooler heads in the press are suggesting a Co-HOY again or giving the Award to Goldikova instead to avoid the conflict between the mare and colt.
However, the Award is supposed to be for American racing records and not just one U.S. race per year no matter how deserving Goldikova is.
In the end, the press has only one third voting power in HOY and it should have learned lessons from the NBC suspension of Keith Olbermann for exercising his First Amendment rights to contribute to polical candidates. NBC was forced into a humiliating comedown in four days after 2-300,000 citizens signed a petition demanding his immediate reinstatement.
The public has every right to campaign for its champion and to expect maturity on the part of those entrusted to vote for HOY.
Meanwhile, Zenyatta's wise trainer John Shirreffs wrote the following to her fans on facebook: "Zenyatta's true quality is gentleness. So thank you for being kind to each other and letting the unkind go their own way."
Racing International http://www.racingint.com
Posted by susan trevelyan-syke at 11/17/2010 9:33 AM 
Categories: Breeders' Cup 2010
Tags: Racing International Zenyatta Breeders' Cup Horse of the Year
Categories: Breeders' Cup 2010
Tags: Racing International Zenyatta Breeders' Cup Horse of the Year
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