Zenyatta’s loss dismays fans
Horse’s backers came from all over the country
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Children wept. And so did grown-ups, the ones who had come from Nebraska and Minnesota and California and Maryland to see their girl, Zenyatta, run one more, only to lose by one stride.
This was not what they had planned when they came to Kentucky’s Churchill Downs on Saturday morning in triumphant glee.
“She’s still a powerhouse,” said Beth Shakan of Annapolis, Md. “This changes nothing.”
As she said that, Erica Harris of Omaha, Neb., stood next to her in the dark and cried.
The day had started with all the promise of the tall beauty retiring from racing having never lost a single race.
“This is what horse racing should be about,” Harris before the race. “(Zenyatta) was given time to grow into her body and be the racehorse she was supposed to be.”
As a horse with the appropriate name of Blame won the day, the Churchill Downs crowd hardly knew how to behave.
“No one clapped for her,” said Shakan, obviously dismayed that she did not again hear the roar of a packed Churchill Downs call Zenyatta’s name and see it rise to their feet for her.
“Why not?” she asked. “To be all that, that’s a lot of pressure for one horse.”