Girl Power!

Okay, so you may not be into horse racing--I'm not so big on it myself-- but today will be an amazing race to watch: Breeders' Cup Classic.

Zenyatta will be racing. What's the big deal?

She is 19-0, and many fans, myself included, are praying for 20-0. It would just be the most incredible win.

Zenyatta is a 6 year old mare who stands 17.2 hands tall. One hand equals 4", measured from the front hoof to the withers. She's tall. She loves people, which you can see in her pre-race dancing and her post-race posing for enthusiastic fans.

She won the Breeders' Cup Classic last year, the first time a mare has won, beating out all the geldings and stallions. Girl power!

What is so goosebump inducing, is to watch her race. She heads around the track usually in the last spot or somewhere back there and then when it really matters, she kicks up the gears and shoots out past every other horse to win.

Her jockey, Mike Smith, said he has yet to see all of her gears and says he's not sure he wants to! In response to critics who say she doesn't win by huge landslides, Smith says Zenyatta runs as fast as she needs to to win.

So, as I wait for the starting time at Churchill Downs, I feel nervous. I feel nervous for her, for her jockey, for her owners and trainer, for all of her fans who make signs and wave them as she parades by, and nervous for the other horses.

This will be an exciting race, no matter the outcome. I can't get enough of Zenyatta!

Here is a link to last year's race and some post-race footage. It's very worth watching if only for the minutes of the race. Zenyatta is with the yellow #4 blanket: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-88DTxeYs

If this link does not work, go to http://www.youtube.com/ and just search for Zenyatta Breeders' Cup 2009.

Once you watch her, you'll want to watch the other videos of her pre-race dancing, the webcam on the helmet of the trainer riding her, and her other races. You too won't be able to get enough!

Go Zenyatta!