Just Watch Her Run!

- I'm glad that this guy said it first, because the idea of a filly, even the mighty Zenyatta, running against the boys seems taboo these days. I might even get a letter from PETA.

Unfortunately, Bob Mieszerski reports that trainer John Shirreffs has said taking on males is not something he or owners Jerry and Ann Moss are considering. That's too bad, because she doesn't seem to have much to prove against her own kind, even after only five career starts. She's already handled the defending division champ, and it seems hard to believe now that Ginger Punch was 2-5 against this amazon despite those credentials. She made her usual last to first move in the Milady Handicap on Saturday, and did so into a quickening pace while circling the field on the turn. "Let's just watch her run - this is Zenyatta!" proclaimed Vic Stauffer as she strode home. She got the final sixteenth in 5.97, a final time of 1:41 flat, and a Beyer of 103.

Heatseeker won the Californian three races later, hitting the one mile mark in the identical 1:35 1/5 as did Zenyatta. Heatseeker closed from there in 11.81, just a slightly faster rate than Zenyatta's last sixteenth, and finished the mile and an eighth in 1:47. He earned a Beyer of 109. He did save ground as compared to Zenyatta; but he also, in a change of tactics likely prompted by a small field and slow pace, had to withstand a pace duel with Surf Cat.

So who would you like if these two hooked up at the top of the stretch? Heatseeker may be faster on paper, but we've never seen Zenyatta seriously challenged in the stretch. Who knows what she could achieve with the proper motivation? As long as she's restricted to fillies and mares, we'll likely never know.

Now, with no further ado, this is Zenyatta!: