Friday's first day of Breeders' Cup horse racing at Santa Anita was a Ladies Day delight. Saturday's second day is expected to be, well, the same thing.
Today is Zenyatta's day.
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It's all about Zenyatta at Breeders' Cup
BILL DWYRE
She'll try to extend her record to 14-0 in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 33 words Type of Material: Correction
Breeders' Cup: A photo caption on the front page of Saturday's Sports section identified the horse in the photograph as Zenyatta. It was not Zenyatta, but another horse working out at Santa Anita.
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No filly or mare has ever won the Breeders' Cup Classic, and they've run this race since 1984. One filly, Jolypha in 1992 at Gulfstream, finished in the money, a third to A.P. Indy. That's it for females in this testosterone dash. So far.
The $5-million Classic has been the domain of the big boys, the rough and ready, who can power over whatever turf is presented and through whatever tight hole is presented.
This one is not for the faint of heart. As Zenyatta's trainer, John Shirreffs, notes, "When one of the boys bumps, another boy bumps back. When the girls get bumped, they just move away."
That being said, Shirreffs has not only entered the unbeaten, 1,250-pound Zenyatta for today's Classic but was not the least bit surprised when she was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite.
"She's a once-in-a-lifetime," Shirreffs said.
If you believe in omens, Shirreffs got one in the final Breeders' Cup race Friday, the $2-million Ladies Classic won last year by, of course, Zenyatta. The winner was Life Is Sweet, also trained by Shirreffs and defeated easily in the three races against Zenyatta they have both entered since May.
Life Is Sweet resides in a stall at Hollywood Park right across from Zenyatta. Life Is Sweet has a personality somewhat counter to the last word in her name, a name that would have been a better fit for Zenyatta. Shirreffs likes to show visitors a picture on his laptop of groom Mario Espinoza, lying down in Zenyatta's stall next to Zenyatta and applying ointment to her ankles as she rests on her side.
When visitors ask Shirreffs which stall belongs to Zenyatta, he is likely to tell them to go find the one where the mare is licking her groom.
Garrett Gomez, who had tried just about everything in his previous rides aboard Life Is Sweet and against Zenyatta, including trying to block her on the backstretch at Hollywood Park, laughed afterward when asked if the absence of Zenyatta this time changed the equation of the race.
"Well, yeah," he said, "because I knew she probably would have ended up second."
