Tuscan Evening, Blame, Concord Point, Majesticperfection and Zenyatta

This weekend began as one of the most exciting examples of the great sport of horse racing and sadly ends with soaring highs marred by a tragic low.

At Del Mar on Sunday one of the most spectacular stories of the year came to a devastating end when the nations overwhelming female turf division leader, Tuscan Evening, collapsed dead immediately after a six furlong work over the turf course. The apparent cause of death seemed to be a sudden heart attack but no official cause has yet been released.

The 6-year-old mare who was in the midst of a spectacular undefeated 6-for-6 2010 racing season was training in preparation for a start in the Beverly D. Lewis Stakes (gr.1) at Arlington Park on August 21^st. Her presence in the female turf division will be sorely missed. This year alone Tuscan Evening won 6 consecutive graded stakes including the Monrovia (gr. IIIT), Buena Vista (gr. IIT), Santa Ana (gr. IIT),  Santa Barbara (gr. IIT), Gamely and Modesty handicaps. All her 2010 starts came in races raging in distance from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles, proving that she was one of the most versatile throwbacks in years to race across the American turf.

I will sorely miss the presence of this consistently tough and talented mare on the racetrack.

The Whitney Handicap (Gr.1) more than lived up to its billing as one of the most exciting races of the year on Saturday at glittering old Saratoga as the top two older males in the nation battled it out head and head down the stretch.

After setting slower fractions all down the backstretch Quality Road swept into the last turn in complete control and looking every bit a winner. Blame, tracking the leaders closer than usual due to the slower pace began to close with a late rush that could make even Zenyatta blush. Rocketing off the turn with a vengeance, the 4-year-old colt set his sights squarely on the leader as jockey Garrett Gomez urged him on frantically.

Pounding past the stands it was all Quality Road, leading a tough-as-nails Musket Man through the lane as Blame came charging hard on the outside. Waves of sound came crashing over the field as the crowd went wild, the longed for match-up coming to fruiting before their eyes. Stride upon stride Blame closed swiftly, slashing into the impressive lead Quality Road was now struggling to maintain. In a vigorous hand ride, Blame got up in the final few jumps to surge past a game Quality Road and stamp himself as the uncontested leader of the older male division. With his victory in the Whitney Blame has now extended his winning streak to five races and also earned a starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Bob Baffert could have two of the leading 3-year-olds by the end of the year if Concord Point’s impressive West Virginia Derby (gr. 2) win over the talented Exhi is any indication of how the colt will continue to perform. He already has divisional leader Lookin At Lucky under his care and now it appears he has another ace in his hand. Entering the Derby off a record setting win in the Iowa Derby (gr.3) Concord Point took control of the race at the break and never looked back in winning by one length over Exhi. Up next for the striking grey colt could be the Travers Stakes (gr.1) at Saratoga but no concrete decisions have been made yet.

In what turned out to be the most impressive sprinting victory of the year, Majesticperfection literally ran his talented,

grade 1 winning foes off their feet. Taking the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (gr.1) field gate-to-wire in the swift time of 1:08.63 Majesticperfection looked in complete control from start to finish. In the stretch graded stakes winners Big Drama, Bribon and Gayego could make up no ground on the winner as the 4 year old colt streaked under the wire with contemptuous ease.

Watching Majesticperfection in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt the thought immediately popped into my head that we could very well be looking at this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking that.

Zenyatta did it again, the gargantuan 6-year-old mare is now undefeated in 18 lifetime starts after taking her third consecutive Clement L. Hirsch stakes (gr.1) against a very weak field. No gratifying measure of credit can possibly be

given to the great race mare and the incredible streak of accomplishments she continues to assemble but the fact remains that she is not facing the competition required of a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, much less an undefeated Classic winner.

Her starting in the Hirsch would have been forgivable if it had not been for the comments dropped after the race by trainer John Shirreffs that Zenyatta will most likely not come to New York for the Beldame Stakes and will instead be considered for the Zenyatta Stakes, formerly known as the the Lady’s Secret Stakes, at Santa Anita Park in October. I guess when the Mosses brought Zenyatta out of retirement they didn’t really mean it when they said they wanted to travel with Zenyatta, and also the one about gender not being a factor. What a joke.

Failing to give any real reasons why Zenyatta will not face males or at least travel East, Shirreffs said that Zenyatta will have only one more start before the Breeders’ Cup Classic. That is pitiful; once again the great mare’s legacy is being completely flattened in favor of one single race. She is capable of so much more than 6 measly starts a year and I for one am tired of seeing trainers and owners treat horses with superior ability and charisma like fine china that can only be taken out in prime conditions for show only.

The bottom line is that there are no excuses for Zenyatta not to run in at least the Beldame but that she should in reality be showing up in the Jockey Club Gold Cup or Woodward Stakes. I wonder how the Mosses will feel if their star loses the Horse of the Year title once again to a rising star like Blame all because they once again failed to seek out the challenges their mare deserved until that one race in November?