THE WORST RIDE EVER!

[Posts: 6542Joined: 21 Oct 2008, 00:37]

Watch Zenyatta get beat there in the Breeders Classic and tell me you have seen a worse ride EVER?

[Posts: 6542Joined: 21 Oct 2008, 00:37]

After 2 furlongs the filly is detached and yet only touchs 6"s in running any other horse would have been 100"s that is the esteem this filly is held in and she is as willing a horse as i have ever seen! Unbelievable performance to even get a place never mind beaten in a photo! Pathetic ride!

[Posts: 3589Joined: 08 Jul 2009, 22:10Location: Wexford]

He bet the [expletive] off her up the straight too.

[Posts: 65Joined: 03 Mar 2009, 19:57]

it was almost identical to dancing brave and sharastani

she was "given a greville" alright

[Posts: 6542Joined: 21 Oct 2008, 00:37]

Having watched the race again it is quite apparent that Mike Smith was trying to be a right clever b*stard,not only did he want to win the hard way he wanted to win the hardest way ever and all to prove what a phenomenal filly Zenyatta is! We already know that though,there was never in a million years any reason to ride her like that the guy looked incompetent in the saddle he takes another pull coming off the last bend still in last place he weaves her out and when he straightens her up he just about takes her head off and then his whip flailing like a demented monkey as she closes down the winner! sickening sight!
Nobody has slated the ride Greville gave the Brave more than me but this is 10 times worse and will be remembered forever!

[Posts: 287Joined: 04 Mar 2008, 23:09Location: Melton Mowbray]

Another race that will always divide opinion on why the horse was left so much to do ... yes, it did look as though she wasn't striding out freely early on ... and yes, I think Smith realised after 2 furlongs that he was too far back but knew that getting after her to make up the ground too quickly would be counter-productive and likely to run the finish out of her ... the damage was effectively therefore already done in the first two furlongs ... having found the leaders coming back, I reckon Smith thought the race was all over on the home turn and was cocky enough to take a pull just prior to removing his goggles ... desperation then kicked in as he realised Blame had got first run and I counted 22 full blooded strikes with the whip including three lots of six rat-a-tat-tat style a la Lester Piggott on Roberto/The Minstrel ... a career defining moment for Smith who will be forced to relive that race long after his race riding days are over ... I feel for the horse more than anything ... didn't deserve a beating of that nature

Never have I read such nonsense in all my life.

If anything beat Zenyatta today it was the sheer volume of attention she was receiving; flanked by what looked like a small army on her way to the saddling enclosure and visibly affected by the rapturous applause upon her entrance.

In the race itself she started slowly, was being asked to improve after all of a furlong despite looking less than keen, wasn't all that far behind Blame in the middle of the back straight and failed to quicken enough having been aided (she was within spitting distance of the lead at the turn) by Quality Road going off too fast.

She was less than impressive when winning last time and was beaten by the occasion tonight. I've never bought in to the hype, but I can appreciate what an emotional occasion it would have been had she won; unfortunately it is that elation-turned-despair that is governing people's reactions.

McCririck's suggestion that Mike Smith didn't do enough, and his subsequent verbal assault because he actually did too much (with the whip), were laughable. The less said about Matt Chapman's rant the better.

Nearly threw up watching that it was so disgusting, total brutality and should have his licence revoked for minimum 2 years.

[Posts: 4088Joined: 03 May 2002, 10:08Location: Essex, UK]

That ride was a ******* disgrace, made the Rachel Alexander ride look like a case of sympathetic handling. If I were Zentatta's owner i'd tell him to piss off and never ask for another of my rides. Appalling stuff.
Arguably the best performance of her career in spite of the twat on her back.

22 twats, according to BHL.

Wasn't as bad as McCoy's ride on Get Me Out Of Here. At least Mike Smith tried to win. McCoy didn't bother.

[Posts: 328Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 11:25]

I agree with most here not the jockeys greatest moment at all........I thought i was back in the 80's watching Scurlogue Champ running in a dog race!!

Cant compare with Dancing Brave tho IMHO at the time they wasnt sure The Brave would stay.

A National iconic mare who has given the sport so much both on and off the track, her lively happy go lucky behaviour before a race is poetry in motion and no horse of her value and stature should be put under that mental beating regardless of the race in question and it's almost like Mike lost faith in her for a furlong or two.