Zenyatta Made Favorite in Breeders' Cup Classic
Zenyatta was made the early 8-5 favorite in a field of 12 for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, where she'll try to end her career with a 20-0 record.
Zenyatta will break from the No. 8 post in Saturday's 1@1/4-mile race against the boys at Churchill Downs.
At 6, Zenyatta is the oldest horse in the Classic, which she came from behind to win last year on Santa Anita's synthetic surface.
This time, she'll be running on dirt against an accomplished field that includes Preakness and Haskell winner Lookin At Lucky, Whitney winner Blame, and Quality Road.
Blame was installed as the 9-2 second choice Tuesday, while Quality Road was third choice at 5-1.
This was how the announcer captured it at last year's Breeders' Cup: "Zenyatta has come to the outside. Zenyatta coming flying on the grandstand side. Gio Ponti on the inside. Summer Bird is right there. This is un-be-lieve-able! Zenyatta!"
Her Hall of Fame jockey, Mike Smith, has won all the races in the Triple Crown, and nearly 5,000 more.
"How does Zenyatta compare to the other horses you've been on who won these championship races?" correspondent Bob Simon asked.
"She means more to me than all those," Smith said.
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Asked if he can explain why, Smith said, "She's just who she is. She's Zenyatta. She's incredible. She's unbeaten. She's done everything that we've ever asked of her."
When asked if history will be made next week at the Breeders' Cup, Smith told Simon, "She's ready. I'll be ready. And she's ready. And like I said before, given the opportunity, I think we could see somethin' incredible."