zinn21 wrote:
With all due respect to RA; if she was as great as people claim she is, Zardana shouldn't be able to warm her up. Some of you folks think a seasoned horse who was out of training for a few months is starting back at square one once they return to training. That is folly. She was plenty fit yesterday. Plenty fit. Zardana beats her three quarters of a length and the rest of the field is 12 lengths behind. If Zardana was not in the race they would be calling RA's race a monster return..
Rachel ran the table against a bunch of less than stellar fillies and males last year. Zenyatta, on the other hand, just toys with her opposition whether it's a bunch of west coast fillies or the best older males in the world. She comes from dead last in virtually all her races and is 15 for 15. Do you realize how good you have to be to win two in a row coming from dead last?
You might want to look back at racing history before making such claims. Affirmed was beaten twice upon his return to racing as a 4 year old after having won the TC the year before...... he than went on to win the rest of his races and was named HoY. Seattle Slew was another who lost upon returning to the races as a 4 year old. Citation struggled as well after a year lay off. Three TC winners and all lost upon returning to the races.
RA was likely not 100% cranked up but she was tight enough. Had Shirreffs elected not to send Zardana, RA would have won by ten and this "short horse" excuse would be a moot point.