He said, here's the real zen master

She was going to win, she didn’t want to break records, she just wanted to beat her field and she did time and time again. Win #15 is all you’d ever need to watch to know she knew she was the queen. Literally turns her head towards the horse she is overtaking while she does it, and then blows right past her. Mike took her just 2-3 steps late, or we’d be talking about 20-0 with back to back Breeders Cups. She was still the Queen that day. That girl had moxie!

Yes. She was 17.2 hands high. She's bigger than almost every triple crown winner.

Fortunately most of her races can be seen on KZfaq 😬she’s retired now and being a broodmare at Lane’s End farm in KY. Thus far her surviving progeny have not been good racers

@@lespangen to be fair, neither were Secretariat’s.

@@joepa87114 Lady's Secret was a horse of the year and Risen Star won the Preakness and the Belmont, and had his rider not allowed him to get boxed in, might have won the Triple Crown. So he did produce two very good ones.

@@HTHAMMACK1 well aware, now compare that to Our Native, who came in third at the 73 Derby and Preakness, and his sired 49 stakes winners and despite how much I love Secretariat, I can’t claim he did a good job of passing those incredible equine genes onto his offspring.

@@joepa87114 That's because Secretariat was one of a kind. This horse doesn't hold a candle to Red.

An amazing mare😬❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️so blessed to be able to watch her if only on video Glad Sheriffs let her grow up before starting her racing career 😬👍

Mike said she broke slow because her hind end was so big. Sometimes her hips would scrub. He said she wouldve never fit into these new gates. Think about how bad it hurts when you bang your hip on the edge of table or something. She absolutely hated the gate.

What an ABSOLUTE JOKE ... Zenyatta is NOT EVEN the best American filly FAR LESS the best American horse to race. Two races against colts. The rest against a VERY POOR filly group. Please don't post CRAP to have people LAUGH AT YOU.

Not the greatest. Nbr. one She never ran on anything but synthetic turf. The only time she didn't was in the Breeders Cup Classic, her last race. She lost. second, when against male horses she was ALWAYS given a weight advantage. Each pound less that she carried was equal to 1 length at 1 1/4 miles. Secretariat ran records at Churchill Downs, Pimlico, Belmont, Arlington. Aqueduct and Woodbine over dirt and turf. Kenyatta was a one trick pony. Synthetic turf or bust.

@@truthxposed8975 Different tracks. Churchill Downs is a slow track compared with Saratoga. Spectacular Bid ran a mile and a quarter in 1 min 27 1/5 at Santa Anita, which at the time was the fastest track in the U.S. Secretariats 2:24 flat is a Worlds Record on dirt for the mile and a half on a flat track (no downhills, like Santa Anita) that has stood for 49 years. Zenyatta never went ovr 1 1/4 miles.

I like most spell it SECRETARIAT

I also will spell it out, folks with common sense, Man O' War

An excellent measured reply. Agree!

You can make a good case for Zenyatta making the top 5 best female racehorses of her generation. Winx and Black Caviar were clearly superior based on their records. GOAT? That's a joke...

@@bgardiner3354 hard to compare different racing surfaces too... Zenyatta was clearly a case of the latest being called the greatest without any history attached - human nature I'd guess.

@@bishlap I dont think it's an issue with different surfaces. I think it's more to do with basic lack of racing faculty and the insular nature of most US racing fans. Kinda typical from a country and calls its national championship the "world series."

@@bgardiner3354 uh what??? you must be a winx fan???

Love your last sentence! Truer words were never written. One of the greatest of ALL time. Right up there w the boys... Secretariat, MOW, Citation, American Pharoah, Seattle Slew and those I might've missed! ❤

@@BeveC21E would love to have seen her run with Ruffian; that said i wish horse racing were abolished as long as those horses which fail to make money are discarded like meat gone bad.

lost by a nose (barely )to Blame

Yes...that was the same thing I said! She's still done what very few horses have done before her--may Queen Z live forever, too!

That last race was at night and trainer said When light flicked on it startled her for a second But still unbelievable. My book she won

Ow can a losing horse be the "better horse on that day?" that makes no sense. Zenyatta isn't the greatest of all time either. Raced against donkey's. Winx is the best to ever do it. These two together would be hilarious. Winx hits the 200m, hits 6th gear and mows her down in 50m, wins by three/four lengths.

@@michaelhutchings8599 Rachel Would Have Beaten Zenyatta

You're forgetting that Zenyatta was getting 3 pounds from Blame that day and at 10f each pound is traditionally considered equal to 1 length. IOW, Blame was 3 lengths better in the race and that difference was reflected in the 3-point difference in their Timeform Ratings.

@@steveroman9553 1 LB Certainly Does Not Equal 1 Length in a Horse Race...These Horses are Like 1200-1500 LBs

Zenyatta's record is inflated and over-hyped. Closer or not she won 18 of 19 races against other fillies and mares. This seriously detracts from her legacy.

yes it does and always will

And I was there. She lost by a head..That sucked.

SAME. Smarty Jones coming up a length short in the Belmont is bad too.

But you know that was her style and game plan! She didn't want to win 31 lengths ahead. She enjoys snatching it away from them at the wire. She was risky, thrived on it. Look what she did anyway! She was the best that day anyway and everyone knew it!

nicely spoken!

Yeah, and ondirt herv competition beat her heads up!!!! As soon asw Blame got her in his vision he held her at bay the final 1/6th. you can dream and try to claim otherwise but the tape does not lie! Blame beat her fair and square and had she been closer early on and run faster early she'd have simply finished slower with the same result, Blame winning. They could have run that race over another 1/8th or another 1/4 mile, she wasn't getting by him once he caught her in his vision. She made a nice career ofv hiding out on SoCal polytracks bweating up on mediocre fields and polytrack pseudo turfer types. Put her on dirt against a real horse like a Blame or a Ghostzapper and she loses. Ghoszapper would have killed this mare at any distance up to 1 1/4, her consistently inferior times and speed figs prove it.

ghostzapper2006 You apparently didn't read a word i wrote..Time and speed figs did not matter when u handicap this horse.. She was a TARGET horse.. Also you refer to Blame as a 'real' horse so i assume you don't think Z is a 'real' horse which doesn't make any sense..A horse loses a race by a nose and and she is not a 'real' horse? lol So i guess every horse out there that has lost a race is not a 'REAL' racehorse anymore in your book.. Blame a great horse lost 4 times and Ghostzapper who is a great horse lost twice.. Ghostzapper lost to Valid Video! So does that mean Ghostzapper is not a 'real' racehorse? Also since you are so concerned with times and speed figs i will give you a couple points of reference.. Ghostzapper won the Metropolitan Handicap in 1.33.20.. Quality Road won the Met in 1.33.11. Faster than Ghostzapper. So that makes Quality road better than Ghostzapper since you love times so much right? . Zenyatta ran right past Quality Road in the 2010 BC classic.. Blame lost to Regal Ransom in the 2009 Super Derby.. Zenyatta ran right past Regal Ransom in the 2009 BC Classic.. Zenyatta was a physical 17 hand beast.. The best looking most imposing horse i have ever seen since i began betting the races in 1978.. I would have NO problem betting Zenyatta if she was in a race against Ghostzapper..Once again i will say Zenyatta was a target horse.. Times and speed figs do not MATTER when judging her ability!

+Rob Talstra Read all your words. She lost to Blame on the square and once he got her in his vision he held her at bay. Plain and simple. Just lots of excuses for her loss on dirt. And Blame was no super horse either. He would be rated middle of the pack as far as modern day older handicap horses, no monster at all, not close. That is reality even if it does not line up nicely with your narrative.

Bob Gardner Zenyatta beat up on fillies and mares her whole career. In fact, 18 of her 20 starts were in races restricted to fillies and mares... that is what they call a protected species

I remember that

And he wore a hat!

Let's hope Zenyatta and War Front produce a baby as lovely in 2016, since the filly was lost. :(

Siobhan Sprouse I’ll take that and raise you Enable

@@idatekatemoss I'll see your Enable and raise you with Winx.......I win with a Royal Flush. THE END

@Joe Blow I'm not saying she made a living of beating sub par fillies/mares BUT she DID make a living off beating fillies/mares. To be the best you have to continually beat the best and the best are not hanging around in RESTRICTED Fillies/Mares races. In open class Grp1 races where the best of the best hang out Zenyatta's winning record was 50%. She won 1 and was beaten in another. For a comparison Winx won 24 OPEN CLASS Grp1 races (25 Grp1 wins in total - a world record) against all comers. Winx also won Grp2 or Grp1 races from 1200m - 2200m (6f - 11f) and was a Grp1 runner up in the Australian Oaks at 2400m (12f) to Gust of Wind who should have won the Grp1 2 mile Melbourne Cup the next season but for Frankie Dettori's reckless riding in the home straight that saw him cause severe interference to 6 or 7 runners and Gust of Wind copped the backwash when looming up to win then losing all momentum only to come again to be beaten 2.7 lengths. Winx had the streak (33 consecutive wins), the longevity (undefeated for 4 years), the championship race wins (4 W S Cox Plate wins & 3 Queen Elizabeth Stks wins - the spring and autumn championship WFA open class races), the handicap wins (won Australia's 2 biggest mile handicaps - the Doncaster and the Epsom), the range (won Grp2 and Grp1 races from 6f - 11f), the domination (won W S Cox Plate by 8l & 5l, George Ryder Stks by 7l, Queen Elizabeth Stks by 5l, Turnbull Stks by 6l etc) and the overall record (world record 25 Grp1 wins beating more than 80 individual Grp1 winners who won 100's of Grp1's)

@Joe Blow when Winx was racing the average USD - AUD rate was 0.75. That means Winx won the equivalent of USD $20 million (AUD$26.4 million). Not too shabby huh ? The Tin Man was handy enough. A good horse but not in the same league as the Winx's of this world. He was a spring 8yo when he was beaten in the Dubai Duty Free by David Junior, who was no slouch. Australian sprinter Buffering was an autumn 8yo when he won the Grp1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai on World Cup night. Black Caviar regularly handed him his ass. In fact, Buffering never won a Grp1 race until after Black Caviar was retired yet he won 8 in his career !! That's how dominant the big mare was.

@Joe Blow "I don't know Winx like you do buttZ I'm thinking Black Caviar is probably lucky she never faced her ? And I don't care if Winx ain't considered a sprinter... she will be after the race...." Look as great a champion as Winx was she could not have lived with Black Caviar in a sprint race. No horse in history could have. Black Caviar is THE sprinter with which all other champion sprinters will be measured against for the next 100 years. We have a pretty smart one now going by the name of Nature Strip. He's arguably the best sprinter in the world right now. He was going to Royal Ascot before Covid-19 ruined that. He's super fast but he can also turn it up sometimes. He would beat Winx as many times as she beat him over the sprint trips. He would have never beaten Black Caviar though. She was a freak. I have no doubt Winx could have won a Grp1 sprint but no way she's winning them regularly against our top class sprinters. As a collective they are clearly the world's best. An Aussie bred has been the IFHA's top ranked sprinter 18 of the last 20 years. The greatest sprinters of all time in Hong Kong, Silent Witness and Sacred Kingdom, were Aussie bred. One of Singapore's greatest, Rocket Man, was Aussie bred. It's been almost 20 years since the then 3yo Choisir went over to Royal Ascot. He started 20/1 in the Kings Stand Stks (what a fill up) and trounced them with sustained speed on the Tuesday and then backed up on the Saturday and again gave them a beating in the Golden Jubilee Stks. That made the English stand up and take notice and in the next 10 years or so Aussie sprinters won there for fun. After Choisir there was Takeover Target (Magnus placed behind him), Scenic Blast, Miss Andretti, Ortensia, Starspangledbanner (Bentley Biscuit placed behind him), Black Caviar & Merchant Navy. The 3yo Star Witness (raced Black Caviar 3 times - beaten 4l, 4l & 8l when getting 11lbs) placed twice in the same 2 races Choisir won and he missed the start in the Kings Stand (5f) before recovering to run 2nd. Buffering won in Dubai, as did Ortensia. Takeover Target won Grp1's in 4 countries. Chautauqua won in Hong Kong. Our horses don't travel a great deal as obviously it's a long trip from Australia to anywhere and Australia also has the strictest quarantine protocols in the world. We also have probably 10 sprint races worth a million or more incl. the $14 million The Everest (6f) so most owners are quite content to stay home.

lol that's a overwatch reference

haha yep she has that last straightaway speed, and they handle her great they keep her with the rest most of the race then just let her go that last turn where her speed burst wins it.

Horse mill reef

Roflmao

She used her ultimate

Those horses are the exception.. more raves are won by horses on or closer to the lead

Same i teared up after 6:38

fresco1962 when the deathbed confession from someone connected comes out about the steroids....

Zenyatta would probably make some dance moves and answer: So long Charlie. I'll catch you at the finish 😉

Mhm

@@docgonzales Secretariat didn't need roids to beat Zenyatta. like a piñata

Lol yep

Winx is her sister!

SugarTomAppleRoger and as you know that’s about where the comparisons end... Winx record is vastly superior to Zenyatta’s, as good as she was. I just can’t understand why they weren’t more Dave with her placement.

@@bgardiner3354 Zenyatta only ran 20 times. 19 out of 20? She can't win any more if they choose not to run her. You take a risk each time you send her out there.

watchgoose do you know how many of those races were not restricted to fillies or mares? 2.... the BCC where she won and then famously ran second to Blame. Every other race was restricted to her own sex. Winx won 24 of her 25 G1’s in open class races. 2 of those were in handicaps where she gave weight to the boys compared to the WFA scale. It’s not the number of races I am talking about, it’s the nature of the opposition. Their records don’t compare.

B Gardiner A lot of people don’t pay attention to European races or think the class is the same.

Lucy Powell....Yes she shows great energy when heading for the front in the straight, the energy and determination, shows she's definitely hard to beat.

Agree 100%, "If she wins this she'll be a superhorse" always gives me goosebumps too. She's had a lot of great commentary on her races.

She’s gonna have to fly again! Here she comes! Zenyattaaaa!

Sec is the best male, Zen is the best female. Is what it is. Though ur right, Zenyatta wouldnt even have beat Sham let alone secretariat haha

You have no idea what Zenyatta could do. But don't compare her to Secretariat. He is untouchable.

LOL

This is great! Even though Afleet Alex is the best horse of all time.

@@mako6173 Alex was amazing. I don't think any other horse could almost fall to his knees and keep going let alone win the Preakness. But we aren't talking ab him

Best relationship

26 in a row and still winning. Even Black Caviar was better than this impostor.

I agree, although I blame Mike 100% for her only defeat. He got her out too late and left her with way too much to do. Still a great jockey though.

​​@@OfficialMuffiinand you are 100 percent wrong. Mike Smith gave Zenyatta a Perfect ride in the 2010 BC,sitting off a nuclear fast pace,saving ground,not getting stopped once. She just hung the last 100 yards because she was running against real dirt horses for the first time in her career..

@@marklewen9384 and she didn't run against "real dirt horses" the first breeders cup she won? and she didn't just hang back the last 100 yards, she was far back the whole race. The only wrong one here is you lol.

@@OfficialMuffiin the first BC was ON SYNTHETIC.....did you ride the short bus to school?? In 2009,All those east coast dirt horses were running on a surface(tapeta) they had never been on and were spinning their wheels. 2010 was the 1st time zenyatta ran against real DIRT horses on DIRT!!!!

@@marklewen9384 The other horses dont control how Mike Smith rode her in that race. Keeping her that far back was a stupid move, he even blamed himself for the loss. You're clueless man hahahaha get a life

Not exactly. It IS the greatest call and finish you've seen because it is the greatest. I've watched it a dozen times and it still lights me up :)))

so what...doesn't make the races any less exciting....no one on this thread made a claim that she was greatest of all time...another idiot on the interwebs

Nah. Checkout easy goer Sunday silence Preakness. Best horse race ever! Dave Johnson best call ever.

Wrong, Ruffian and Man O'War!!!

We can't really know who the best racehorses were, because racing has been going on for centuries all over the world, and in different ways. Secretariat, Man O'War, Shergar, Eclipse, Red Rum, Zenyatta, Winx, Phar Lap - you've got flat racers and steeplechasers, dirt and turf runners, dash and heat racers, seperated by centuries. All greats.

Lady's Secret was best dirt mare in US history..

Stoffer always did that YEESSSssss call. Nothing was more annoying when you didnt have the winner lol

Joe Blow Lasix and Equipoise aside

Watch Secretariat's Preaknes.

Zenyatta had the PERFECT trip off a nuclear fast pace. She was set up PERFECTLY and HUNG LATE...

Josie Mitchell enable says no

Ruffian led at every pole she ever passed…..

Phillies cannot beat the best male race horses period!… females are not dominant physically males are.

@@loyalamerican8776 no..fillies can definitely beat male race horses.

🎯🎯🎯

i feel the same, not into horse racing because i am afraid they will get hurt, but i have such a strange love for this beauty, kinda have the hots for mike smith too1

Ask Winx that. Then ask Street Cry. He would say Winx

Ask Winx that. Then ask Street Cry. He would say Winx

Greatest female of all time? Obsessed fans are ridiculous. I hope you're not saying that because she won 19 straight, because if that's why Winx has 31 straight wins rn. She never left Australia? Neither did Zen ever leave the US. Black Caviar would also have something to say about that as she retired undefeated with 25 wins, and she went overseas to Royal Ascot (where she got a muscle tear in the middle of a race that she still proceeded to win). But we can go further back in time, Kincsem was unbeaten in 54 races throughout 5 different countries. Despite not having won 19 races, Ruffian is the 1st filly to appear on bloodhorse's top 100 US racehorses of the 20th century. Naturally. She tied track records a couple times and set a new stakes record in eeeevery stakes race she won (and won the Triple Tiara). My point is saying one filly is the best of ALL time in the whole world, when there were so but so many outstanding fillies (those examples were mere samples), is just proof of ignorance. You just cannot state such a fact without sounding like one of those boyband fangirls who say their boyband is like the best ever. It's just not how it works.

@@ginita105 It's more about the WAY she did it

@@ginita105 Oml shut up. Let people have their opinion

Look at secretariat way better

Then you haven't seen ANY HORSES....Horses that would've beaten zenyatta: Seattle slew,affirmed,spectacular bid, forego, alysheba,ap indy,holy Bull,cigar,ghost zapper, arrogate,Flightline...and MANY more..

False logic. Spotting that 20 lengths also meant she did no running the first part of the race so of course she should finish fastest. She runs faster early and she'd have finiished slower. REALITY! Truth is as soon as Blame got her in his vision he held her at bay. They could have run that race another 1/8th of a mile or another 1/4, she wasn't getting by Blame and you're delusional if you think she would have. She made a nice career beating up on a bunch of pseudo turfer polytrack types on polytrack. Her record on dirt 0-1. You seriously think this horsev would have beaten a horse for example like Ghostzapper????? Hahahahaha, no chance! He'd dust her by 5 or more lengths at any distance you choose up to 1 1/4. Horrible traffic trouble????? Hahahaha, you should write fantasy novels if you believe that. Anyone who isn't on drugs knows she lost that race fair and square. Again, the moment Blame caught her in his vision he reaccelerated and held her at bay the final 1/16th, she wasn't going to get by him dreamer. :-)

I you're going to talk logic you should probably get your facts right. Try 2-3 on dirt, unless you forgot about Oaklawn where she won by 4 lengths both times. How many horses can you name who finished in front of every horse they ever raced against except one - and mind you - that one was by inches. And they weren't all lightweight competitors. Fourteen of her races were G1, including two BC classics where there were Derby and Preakness winners who she blew passed like they were stopped. That last BC was her worst trip ever and she nearly won it anyway. She is inches shy of perfection, and by any logic that is unmatched.

+Steven Palty But as great as she was you can't really believe that she could run 2000 meters on dirt in 1:59.16 and 1:59.02 like Skip Away and Ghostzapper do you, irrespective of pace factor, etc.? Is objectivity now an endangered species?

since we are talking about time She was a FULL second faster then Ruffian at 1 mile 1/8th YOU NEED TO BUY A CLUE

+Carl P and both wouldve gotten smoked by LADYS SECRET...

+Antony Quigley Making claims about being faster by running extra distance when you lack the tactical speed to run near the front and avoid having to go wide is a false argument. The same type of argument can be made for early front running types regarding pace, who save ground by using superior early speed. If they were only permitted to run slower early fractions they could then have saved more energy for their late runs. Can't have it both ways. If you lack early tactical speed and you don't do any of the early race dirty work up near the pace, it's pretty disingenuous to then cry about some ground loss when your hoss dawdled early and did none of that dirty work.

@@ivanboesky1520 they boxed her in a lot, forcing her to go wide to get racing room. That's the way the game is played. Fortunately, Zen could do it.

Did you know that Man O' War was also called "Big Red"?

Do you realize these are mares. They won't be as fast as any of the Triple Crown Winners.

Are you asking me David? Of course I know Man O War and Secretariat were male. I don't generally talk about females except just yesterday I watched a video on Zenyatta who was a magnificent race horse but tragically broke down (broken leg bones) and was put down, I believe. Beautiful girl.

@@monahawk the comment was for Stanley McDonald. He was referencing a stop watch between her, and Big Red. That comment doesn't make sense to me. You can't really compare a male and female animal athlete. Just like you can't compare male and female athletes. The male is going to be superior to the famle in athletic competitions.

@@davidfaxon1753 Thanks David.

lol

Y D:

Matthew Caffrey her

This comment is cringe

She got EMP'd

+Daragh Coulter better than Treve ?? You didn`t mean that`s for Sue,did you?? Cos you definitely didn`t mean that`s for sure !

+postcardterry I hadn't heard of Treve - thank you for putting her on my radar!

+Elizabeth Armstrong True....her dreadful death being forced into a Match Race tends to be what we think of first - not all the records she broke and the distance she could run!

+Daragh Coulter You are very welcome. It`s always hard to say best ever but if Treve had won a third Arc, it would have been an almost impossible act to follow(the faster ground went against her after her back problems in 2014). Whatever people in Europe say, the Epsom Derby and the Arc have always been, and will probably always be ,the two big ones.In about 1905, Sceptre was very special but that was so long ago that all her supporters are dead. She ran at a time when the first picture postcards were being published and I was lucky enough to find one of Sceptre in a junk shop in Istanbul. That is how big she was in a pre internet world more than a hundred years ago.

+postcardterry found this lovely article on her: www.independent.co.uk/sport/racing-sceptre-the-horse-of-the-century-1085715.html

No,queen of synthetic..

Didnt race anything of consequence,retired it early saw the writing on the wal and wanted to keep unbeaten record for stud purposes

She eats horse dust but then she makes them eat hers.. and gets the Win...she’s a Top 5 horse of all Time.

I was about to say the same thing. Ruffian, in my opinion, is the greatest racemare of all time. She was good enough to beat the boys and be compared to the greats like Secretariat, Man-o-War, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, not just to other racemares...

@@texasscratchking4568 The 7-expert panel who put together the list of the Top 100 [North American-raced) Racehorses of the 20th Century for the 1999 Blood-Horse book had Ruffian as the highest ranked female -- and 35th overall. You don't run regularly against males, you don't get to be ranked with the very best of them. It's not her fault, obviously and tragically, but she did not win against older mares, much less win in open competition. And her only track records were at the sprint distance of 5 1/2 furlongs.

Erickson Bauit....have you ever compared mortal man with Superman? so why do it with horses?

Seattle Slew was the greatest horse ever.

From a standpoint of someone who grew up in the Grade 1 race industry, Man o' War is the greatest racehorse of all time. There's no comparison, and there very likely will never be a horse anywhere near the caliber he was. Secretariat is the second greatest, but I would bet such a ridiculous amount of money on the fact that if they had a match race, it would be a slaying. Man o' War would win wire to wire.

NO Kincsem is the best Horse of all Time !

​@khalfani414 so did I and your wrong. Secretariat holds every record for those 3 races still. Also the second Greatest horse of all time wouldve been Flightline if he raced more. These are facts. Man o War definitely Top 5.

While I agree with you in principle your comparison is not really fair. Fillies are precluded from running in the 3 races that comprise the triple crown. And while Secretariat's Belmont win is a benchmark performance, it was against his own age group. Zenyatta's win in the Classic was against was against proven older horses. I don't think that Sec had any left to prove, but towelling up a group of 3 yo's at the end of their seasons is different to beating world class 10f dirt horses set specifically for the race. JMO

B Gardiner I completely respect your opinion but I will say that there have been filly entries in the triple crown and quite a few have won the kentucky derby.

You're right CJ... Not a great use of words. I had assumed a 1.5kg let up for the spring 3yo's as we do. After having a look I see it's 5lbs. So a bit shocked more fillies have not figured more prominently. We have had some outstanding distaffers in ANZ in recent years... Sunline, Makybe Diva, Atlantic Jewel, More Joyous and the greatest of them all Black Caviar. None won a 3yo blue riband though.

As ridiculous as this may sound, if reincarnation did exist I'm inclined to believe that Zenyata is the reincarnated soul of Ruffian. Both fillies stand taller then the colts, both had excellent speed and the dance Zenyata does is led by her right front leg which is the leg Ruffian destroyed in the match race against Foolish Pleasure. I know I got off track here but I mentioned it with the point being that had Ruffian been entered in the KD I don't doubt she could've taken it with ease.

***** Maybe in the States... Although even just confined to the states Man O War's record is unfathomable, even by Secretariat's standards. The problem I have with Secretariat is that his legacy hinges more or less exclusively on his Belmont win and time. A benchmark performance no doubt, but if you factor in the run up distance it's less impressive. It was practically a time trial. An amazing one yes... but would you compare it to robot's record against the world's best, or Phar Lap's 4 stakes races in 8 days or even Deep Impact's Tenno Sho win in 3:12? At least Zenyatta won against hardened aged horses set solely for the Classic... although not great competition.

St. Trinians definitely gave Z a run for her money. The "YES!" from the commentator always makes me laugh too.

zenyatta would not have beaten curlin on real dirt

Actually Blame saw her coming and did not let her pass