She went into the race as one of the greatest racehorses we have ever seen and she came out of the race as one of the greatest racehorses we have ever seen.
It was emotional stuff at Churchill Downs on Saturday night as Zenyatta came so close to making it a perfect 20 wins from 20 starts.
The 6-year old mare, who cost just $60,000, went into the Breeders' Cup Classic unbeaten in 19 starts and was fancied to make it a perfect 20 in what many expect to be her last ever race.
Zenyatta started the race very slowly, as she usually does and was dead last for the first couple of furlongs. However, there was a big difference between this race and the majority of races she has won in her career. This was a race packed with quality and the 30-lengths jockey Mike Smith allowed Zenyatta to fall behind the leaders proved just too much in the end.
By the time the field turned into the straight at Churchill Downs, it was a miracle that Zenyatta was still even in contention to win the race after a such a poor opening few furlongs. As Zenyatta did her very best to catch the eventual winner, Blame, it seemed all of the 72,000 in attendance and indeed anyone watching around the world was cheering her on the victory but it simply wasn't to be.
Smith, to his credit, came out after the race and accepted responsibility for Zenyatta not winning the race. "If you have to blame anyone today, it would be me." said the teary-eyed jockey. "It’s my fault. She should have won and it hurts."
It was an incredible race to watch and I for one would loved to have seen Zenyatta win. She really is an amazing horse and it's such a shame that things didn't work out on the night, but that's horse racing.
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