Nine have the courage to challenge the Queen
As Chevy Chase was heard saying before he jumped into the pool with Christie Brinkley in "Vacation" -- "This is crazy, this is crazy."
Yes, it is a little bit crazy that nine fillies and mares have been entered to test the unbeaten Zenyatta in Sunday's $300,000 Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar -- the most rivals she'll have faced since her maiden victory at Hollywood Park on Nov. 22, 2007.
Well, second place is worth $60,000, which in any economy is hardly chicken feed. Heck, I'd have jumped into a pool with Phyllis Diller for that much money. Remember, us starving journalists are always looking to make a big splash.
On paper, you'd have to think that Zenyatta's stablemate, Life Is Sweet, is a good bet to take home that big consolation prize, if not the whole ball of wax if she likes Del Mar's synthetic Polytrack surface as much as she enjoyed Santa Anita's Pro-Ride. She won three graded stakes last winter in Arcadia, including the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap by 2 1/2 lengths. She comes in off a third-place finish against the boys in the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 11, so she's hardly here to play the role of the Washington Generals against the Globetrotters.
Then there's Lethal Heat, who you'd eliminate at first glance until you notice she's won two of three over Polytrack and found the winner's circle in her lone outing at Sunday's 1 1/16-mile distance. Hey, stranger things have happened. Just ask Bill Mott, who came here in the summer of 1996 with what everyone thought was an unbeatable Horse of the Year candidate -- Cigar -- and discovered everyone was just blowing smoke when they told him he couldn't lose.
Whatever, jockey Mike Smith is not afraid of all the competition. Hey, if I rode Zenyatta, I'd feel on top of the world, too.
"She breaks and falls back and just kind of takes her time, gets into stride, so the size of the field doesn't really matter a whole lot to her," the Hall of Fame rider said. "I mean, you always do worry whenever you're coming from off the pace about getting stuck or having to go too wide or whatever, but she just always seems to find a way so I just kind of leave it up to her."
Wise strategy, Mike.
Owner Jerry Moss, who's taken enough grief these past few weeks for not undertaking a more aggressive campaign with his starlet than he'd care to remember, embraces the large turnout if not all the negative remarks.
"I'm comfortable with a bigger field because then we know there'll be some sort of pace to the race and something that she can come after," Moss said. "I like a bigger field than a smaller one, to tell you the truth."
Well, here's the truth -- Zenyatta comes running with that huge stride of hers whether there's a swift pace or not. Doesn't seem to bother the girl when they dawdle up front in hopes of stealing a big payday and being the one to spoil an unblemished record.
All that does is seem to rile up a champion. And believe me, you don't wanna rile up Zenyatta, not when she's within reach of finishing her career with an unblemished record and still has a shot at Horse of the Year.
I mean, that would be just plain crazy.
It was Vacation when Chevy Chase said that.
The stretch is shorter than SA and HP, so she won't have much room to get there if she is too far back.
Phantasma ... of course, you're right. And that was one of my all-time favorite movies, too. I can't believe I messed up on that :-)
As for Del Mar and its shorter stretch, you're right there as well. But, that shorter stretch didn't stop her from winning the Clement Hirsch last year and I doubt it will prevent her from doing the same on Sunday. But then, if you listen to some of the East Coast folks, it doesn't matter. In their eyes, Zenyatta is just a product of synthetic surfaces and beating up on the same old fillies and mares. Never mind that she beat one of their own, Ginger Punch, twice last year -- once on dirt. Yes, despite what you hear from the East, Zenyatta has run on dirt once.