Perfection eludes Zenyatta in a Breeders’ Cup Classic loss

Reporting from Louisville, Ky. —  The leaves are off the trees in Kentucky, and the bloom is off the rose in horse racing.

Zenyatta lost. Everybody’s equine darling gave it her all and came within three inches of the storybook finish, the 20-0 record.

It would have been a perfect retirement package for this 6-year-old marvel. But 19-1, plus the memory of how hard she tried, how close she came and how much she did for a sport that needed her so badly, still deserves a pretty nice pension.

When she came charging down the home stretch of fabled Churchill Downs, a chill in the air and the last glimmer of daylight about to disappear, it looked as if she would do it one more time. She had won this Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, also against the best horses in the world, also the same way.

Why not once more? Didn’t all those fans who stood all day at the paddock fence, holding their Girl Power signs and waiting for their moment to snap her picture, deserve this? Shouldn’t a higher power have willed her past the spectacular colt, Blame, in those last 10 yards? Wasn’t it time that horse racing, a sport in dire need of more front-page pictures and more moments on SportsCenter, got a break?

There was a crowd of 72,739, waiting to explode. The Twin Spires would have shivered and the Richter scale might have read a 2.3. As the huge mare streaked down the home stretch, after staying way behind as usual and giving everybody a heart attack by starting her dash at the last conceivable moment, it felt as if all 72,739 were sprinters in starting blocks.

On your mark, get set, explode …

But this time, she didn’t make it. One camera angle showed that she actually caught Blame a few steps from the wire, but then Garrett Gomez got the last bob and Zenyatta was beaten. One can only imagine how confused she must have been when they led her off to the barns, not the victory circle.

Sports live on anticipation and memorialize disappointment.

On Saturday at Churchill Downs, a pitcher shut down Joe DiMaggio in Game No. 57. Casey was at the bat and struck out again. Edwin Moses hit the last hurdle, Rocky Marciano got caught with a left uppercut and went down.

For the Zenyatta connections, the thrill of 19 previous victories will not immediately ease the agony of a three-inch defeat. Perspective will come in a few days, maybe weeks. This was a horse race, not a vote on civil rights or taxes, nor a rescue of Chilean miners.

An attempt at perspective came in their first wave of interviews immediately afterward.

Trainer John Shirreffs said, “I was just happy with everything Zenyatta has done. She ran her heart out.”

Co-owner Jerry Moss said, “I thought she’d get there. She just missed. She lost to a great horse.”

Moss’ wife, co-owner Ann, had the most creative reaction.

“I was hoping she’d stick her tongue out,” Ann Moss said.

But later, when asked to come for a formal interview, the Zenyatta connections declined.

Jockey Mike Smith, along for the ride in 16 of her 19 trophy dashes down the home stretch, took it the hardest, blaming himself for starting her too late on her final run. He got teary-eyed during his post-race news conference, and he didn’t need to.

“It hurts more than I can explain,” Smith said.

That it was his fault is nonsense. She always started too late and always got there. It was the main part of her charm. People came to watch, to be given an anxiety fit and to get their dramatic high in the last 10 steps. Zenyatta delivered the drama before, and she did so again Saturday. Except this time, another horse, under the masterful ride of Gomez, managed to keep a body part in front of her at the wire.

The next few months will certainly bring retirement for Zenyatta. The legend may even grow, rather than diminish, despite the defeat.

Part of that depends on the politics of the sport, on whether the voting turf writers decide on Blame or Zenyatta as horse of the year in the annual Eclipse Awards.

It is hard to imagine that a vote could go any other way. Zenyatta hasn’t just won lots of races and attracted lots of interest to a sport whose piece of the general fan pie is a sliver, she has created a buzz that made its way to mainstream America.

She is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete, not merely a superb racehorse.

Shirreffs, a reasonable man not given to public anger nor hyperbole, has said that if something like that happened, he would consider it “a slap in the face.”

But that battle apparently has just begun.

Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm — yes, the same Seth Hancock who was, as a young man, a major part of the recent Disney fictional folly of a movie about Secretariat — pulled no punches afterward.

“I thought the battle for horse of the year was fought about half an hour ago,” Hancock said, “and Blame won it. I mean, she’s a great horse, Zenyatta is. But she had her shot to get by, and she didn’t do it.”

Ah, graciousness in victory.

But that’s horse racing. Nobody gives an inch. Certainly, not three.

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