The Legacy of Eight Belles

Barbaro broke down at Pimlico, one of the safest surfaces, I believe, in the country, and the breakdown might have been caused by Brother Derek. Anways, Barbaro's legacy is synthetic surfaces across the racing landscape. It's a great legacy, and w/o him none of this would have been possible. Eight Belles broke down at Churchill Downs without an illegal drug in her. Her legacy will be the uniform medication rules that will soon be implemented across the racing landscape. Without her Churchill would have never gotten on board. It's a little ironic that these 2 great horses cause change unrelated to their own plights. I'd say that it doesn't really matter what the real issue was, the after-shocks have done good for the industry. Except.... Named for the 3rd Police Album w/ favorites like "Don't Stand so Close to Me" & "Do do do do dah dah dah" Zenyatta (525) is no 3rd string album. She is a force. She is currently 4th on the the HOTY polls, but does anyone doubt she's less than a lock in the F&M Classic? Her tour de force this weekend, for me, was the most eye opening race of them all. Hystericalady (320) is no push over (2nd in last year's F&M TBA), she got easy fractions and Zenyatta passed her ears pricked like she was tied to a post. I'm not to intrigued by Big Brown vs Curlin. Maybe I'm just tired of the charade and the forever building build-up. I would be excited to see this filly thrown in the mix though. I think one of the reasons why she isn't is a reaction to another filly in with the boys (Eight Belles). To me that's not fair, it's unjustified, and just a perfect example of how people don't get it. Horses are not humans, our differences in gender are not uniform throughout the animal kingdom, and certainly not the equine world. Wherever Zenyatta runs, she's a single on my ticket and anything over 1-5 is a gift if you ask me. I just wish it was the Classic.