Filed under: @gallery, Horse Racing, Sports Business and Media
LOS ANGELES -- It reads like a cliched Tinseltown script. There's a music mogul, a model, a Vietnam vet, a salty sidekick, and a God-fearing, battle-scarred best friend who's looking for one last hurrah. They all orbit around one majestic female, a superior athlete whose dramatic flair and camera-friendly personality has energized a downtrodden sport. And in the final act, our heroine faces off against the world's best competitors -- all men -- in a showdown with history.
Of course, it's all true. And fittingly, Zenyatta -- the star of this tale, and horse racing's best story in decades -- lives at a place called Hollywood Park.
In a Deadspin era of loutish athletes, lewd text messages and litigious team owners, Zenyatta's climb to the top of thoroughbred racing feels out of place, like a relic from a more innocent sports world. There's no drug scandal or cheating accusation lurking on the periphery. There are no agents, marketing representatives or corporate sponsors involved. And even rivals admit that they'll be supporting her Saturday in what will likely be her final race, the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Zenyatta has been tabbed as the 8-5, morning-line favorite from post eight in the 12-horse field.
"We all want to win, but we don't mind getting beat by her," Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert told reporters last week.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.com/2010/11/02/zenyatta-rocks-n-rolls-to-date-with-history-at-breeders-cup/
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