RACING:NINETY-THREE of the best thoroughbreds in the world will line up for tonight's Breeders' Cup action at Churchill Downs, yet to American eyes it will all boil down to how just one of them, Zenyatta, performs.
Sporting perfection is rarely achieved but, in the statistical sense at least, the giant mare is on the verge of it if she wins back-to-back renewals of the Classic.
Unbeaten in 19 career starts, making it a perfect 20 will cement Zenyatta’s place among America’s turf elite and copperfasten a rare foray by horse racing into that nation’s sporting consciousness.
The days when a Kentucky Derby victory at Churchill Downs by Secretariat or Seattle Slew was a gateway to the hearts of the general public are long gone, but Zenyatta’s unique appeal has already reached the mainstream to such an extent she is even included in Oprah Winfrey’s “Power List” of American females.
Not even the star French filly Goldikova, who is also hoping to defy history by winning at the Breeders’ Cup three years in a row, or the Epsom Derby and Arc hero Workforce, can hope to compete with that type of profile.
Zenyatta is sure to start a warm favourite despite 17 of her races having come on synthetic surfaces, and Lookin At Lucky followers are likely to bank on that stat in support of a colt who looks the best of a mostly modest American three-year-old crop.
But Zenyatta’s two dirt wins at Oaklawn were among her most impressive, and in terms of class over this mile-and-a-quarter trip the show-stopping filly might just be in a different league.
Goldikova has already broken the European record for Group One victories and can trump Zenyatta to the achievement of becoming the first triple-Breeders’ Cup winner in the Mile.
A wide draw is never ideal on an American turf course, but 10 of 11 isn’t that bad, and Freddie Head’s champion seems to have the knack of finding a way to win.
Michael Stoute’s concerns about the state of the ground have dominated the run-up to the mile- and-a-half Turf, but if the Derby and Arc hero does line up he will be all but impossible to oppose.
John Gosden won last year’s Juvenile Turf with Pounced, and in Utley, a half-brother to Rainbow View, he has a colt that should relish fast ground for the first time against Aidan O’Brien’s hope Master Of Hounds.
But on a day of champions, maybe the future can be witnessed in the Juvenile on dirt where Uncle Mo, who has already provoked comparisons with the 1977 Triple Crown hero Seattle Slew, can justify the hype in style.
5.50 – Utley
6.30 – Girolamo
7.15 – Silver Timber
7.55 – Uncle Mo
8.40 – Goldikova
9.20 – Gayego
10.00 – Workforce
10.45 – Zenyatta
