Historic day for 'Queen' of the track

Ray Kerrison

ARCADIA, Calif. -- She did it!

Zenyatta, the big, beautiful ornament of American racing rocked southern California like an earthquake yesterday, when she came from dead last to storm her way through the stretch and thrash all the top older male horses in the country to win the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic in one of the great moments of the American turf.

It's now official: Zenyatta today stands alone in the history books, the only female horse ever to win 14 straight races, nearly all of them stakes. But she saved her best for last.

Written off by most experts as too slow and too cautiously managed, but adored by the crowd who bet her by the hundreds of thousands down to a 5-2 favorite, Zenyatta not only did not disappoint, but also sent the crowd into raptures with her breathtakingly powerful run down the lane after seemingly hopelessly beaten for most of the trip.

AFP/Getty Images

WINNING GRIN: Jockey Mike Smith (above) breaks out in a smile after winning the Breeders' Cup Classic aboard mare Zenyatta, the favoorite of the crowd at Santa Anita Park yesterday.

This is the thing: She won like a champion is supposed to win. And in doing so, she sent thrills and chills into a sport suffering through some of its worst times ever. This is what a star can do. She can bring the crowds to a roar.

For the record, America's best grass horse, Gio Ponti, ran a great race to get second at 12-1 while Twice Over, the British shipper, ran on for third at 9-1. Summer Bird was fourth.

But when you are dealing with perfection, nothing much else counts. Now Zenyatta has thrown down the gauntlet to the superstar filly Rachel Alexandra for the title Horse of the Year. Going into the Classic, Rachel was probably a furlong in front. Now the race is on.

What vaulted Zenyatta into the race was the drama of her Classic, the way she won. She trekked Regal Ransom, the pacesetter, by more than a dozen lengths until the last turn when her jockey, Mike Smith, moved her through along the rail. Then he switched her to the center of the track, settling for the run home.

Suddenly, for an instant, she seemed hung up by the horse in front of her, Twice Over. She looked cooked. That's when Smith got into her with the whip and rode her hard, perhaps harder than he had ever done. And then the magic happened. Zenyatta, a champion, responded with a will and giant stride that is her hallmark.

Smith is integral to Zenyatta's success. He rides her with ice in his veins, takes her back, lets her run when she's ready.

"I was very concerned after the mishap at the gate [when Quality Road threw a fit and had to be scratched] I thought, 'Oh God, not today,' " Smith said. "But she gathered herself up. Then at the half mile pole, everyone stacked up and I thought we would never get through. But then it parted like the sea.

"It will be a crying shame if she is not Horse of the Year."

Her trainer John Shirreffs, was reduced to tears.

"I can't believe it," he said, crying. "She is a great, great mare. She is all heart. The way the crowd took to her was just amazing. They cheered for her, they clapped for her, they love her."

Her owner, Jerry Moss, the record industry mogul, said Zenyatta's win was up there with all the awards he has won in the music business. His decision to run her in the Classic was a most generous gesture, appreciated by everyone in the business.

"We did it because we wanted to do it for her," he said. "The fact is she is back home, safe with her undefeated record."

Asked if he thought she should be crowned Horse of the Year, Moss replied: "That's up to you guys."

Smith said he would have given anything to run against Rachel Alexandra, but in the end, both camps dodged each other under various alibis.

"I think," Shirreffs said, "Rachel is the princess and Zenyatta is the queen."

Moss scotched any hint of a match race between the two females.

"I think this was Zenyatta's last race," he said.

At the wire, Zenyatta beat Gio Ponti by a length with Twice Over a length and a quarter back in third. The two big disappointments of the Classic were the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who took up his usual position near the rear, but thereafter never fired. He finished a well beaten ninth.

Even worse was the greatly-hyped Euro invader Rip Van Winkle, who arrived with a tremendous resume. Bet down to the 3-1 second favorite, he raced just behind the pace, but then spit the bit after a mile and faded to tenth.

The Classic win is a fabulous bookend for Moss and his wife Ann. They won the Kentucky Derby with Giacomo in 2006.