Blame, Zenyatta the Weekend’s Big Winners

Blame (2) rallied to win the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. (AP Images)

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- BLAME, a winner of his last four races and rated by most as the second-best older male racehorse to the talented QUALITY ROAD, turned those rankings upside down in the $750,000 Whitney Handicap here on Saturday.

With 36,658 in attendance, Quality Road held the lead almost every step of the 1-1/8 mile distance while being chased through moderate fractions by HAYNESFIELD   and MUSKET MAN. But Quality Road could not hold off Blame in the final two strides.

“I thought I had (Quality Road) measured when we began to get closer coming out of the turn, ”said winning rider Garrett Gomez, who briefly lost one of his irons in the middle of the dramatic duel through the Saratoga homestretch. “This is a tough horse. The margin was close, but I’m not sure we got to his bottom here (Saturday). I think there’s more in the tank.”

Quality Road went to the post as the 1-2 betting favorite and Blame was 3.40-1. But at the wire, Blame had a head margin after relentlessly wearing down the favorite to win this important contest by a head.

Both horses are tentatively scheduled to have at least one rematch -- in the 1-1/4 mile $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6. That is where they can expect to meet undefeated 6-year-old mare ZENYATTA, who won her 18th straight race Saturday in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar.

The Clement Hirsch was nowhere near Zenyatta’s best performance, but she did overcome a snail-like pace and an apparent track bias that promoted the chances of many horses throughout the card who hugged the inner rail path.

Zenyatta, as is her style, was unhurried early and looped the overmatched field of five rivals on the turn before she out-gamed front running RINTERVAL without feeling the crack of Mike Smith’s whip.

“I actually thought (Zenyatta) was very, very impressive,” Smith said afterwards -- an opinion shared in spirit by the adoring Del Mar crowd of 32,536 but not necessarily by objective observers.

Smith pointed out that Zenyatta’s extremely slow final time of 1:45.03 for the 1-1/16 mile distance was mostly due to the dawdling pace of 50.61 for a half mile   and 1:15.11 for six furlongs -- fractions that would have been slow for a $3,000 claiming race much less a $300,000 stakes. He said that Zenyatta not only overcame those fractions, which can be difficult for a stretch runner to do, but she had the field measured every step of the way.

“Zenyatta knows what she has to do and just does it, “Smith said. “She’s amazing ”¦ she does it every time.”

Trainer John Shirreffs admitted after the race that he might have scratched Zenyatta earlier in the day if Del Mar officials had not agreed to add water on the synthetic Polytrack surface “to tighten it up.” Shirreffs was concerned that the track was “too loose” and Del Mar officials readily acceded to his request, which was supported by most Del Mar horsemen who felt the same way.

Zenyatta now is likely to ship out of California to get a prep race on a dirt racing surface before the Breeders’ Cup. The most prominent possibility is the 1-1/8 mile Beldame at Belmont Park on Oct. 2, where she just might meet 4-year-old filly RACHEL ALEXANDRA, the reigning 2009 Horse of the Year.

Rachel is scheduled to race next in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Sunday, Aug. 29, the day after the Travers.

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