Zenyatta’s Breeders Cup Options
The legendary Breeders’ Cup is an event that is hosted annually at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita, and received 166 pre-entries to the event. Held on the 6th and 7th of November 2009, the Breeders’ Cup is known to be a prestigious event that features fourteen races and carries a total purse amount of $25.5 million. Thirty seven international horses have also been pre-entered, of which fifteen are from the Godolphin Racing yard. But most noteworthy, is the two pre-entries for Zenyatta and that of Summer Bird.
Breeders’ Cup winners from previous years, have also been pre-entered, including Midshipman, Desert Code, Goldikova, Ventura, Conduit, Maram, Muhannak, Forever Together and of course, the talented Zenyatta. Pre-entered into the Ladies’ Classic and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Zenyatta will either be defending her title or going up against her male counterparts. Her trainer, John Shirreffs, has spoken to her owners, Jerome and Ann Moss, and it seems that there is a very good chance that Zenyatta will be competing in the Classic, depending on how she performs during training later this week.
Zenyatta, a sensational five year old, has won all thirteen of her career starts, and many are hoping that she will be able to rake in her fourteenth victory during the Breeders’ Cup Classic. If she does run the Classic, she will come up against competitors such as Summer Bird, Einstein, Rip Van Winkle, Gio Ponti, and Regal Ransom that have been pre-entered into the race. Summer Bird, is a bit of a late bloomer, tarting his racing career in March this year, has won the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Belmont Stakes and the Travers, an achievement last accomplished in 1989 by Easy Goer. He is also amongst the favorites of this event. As Zenyatta goes into her workout on Saturday, everyone will be hoping that she delivers a satisfactory performance, to see her in the starting gates of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Shirreffs seems quite confident, and was quoted saying: “She’s like a stopper on a baseball team; you’re not doing so well and you bring her out and it lifts up everybody around her.”
