You can't script horse racing's storylines. The best of them have more than a bit of fantasy. The action on the track consists of a few minutes so the opportunity to feel it must be developed over time, the years it took to develop a champion, the weeks leading up to a big race, the final moments when the horses come on the track.
The one thing the sport consistently gets wrong is the endings. The humans can only do so much. Sometimes, the racing gods determine the outcome.
Zenyatta passed 117 horses in her brilliant 3-year-career. If just about everybody in the Churchill Downs crowd of 72,739 had their way early Saturday evening, it would have been 118.
The great mare, however, finally found two obstacles she could not overcome - racing reality and a really tough colt named Blame.
Jockey Mike Smith wanted to take the blame for Zenyatta's first defeat, but there was none to be ascribed. The shock wasn't that she finally lost. The miracle was that she won for so long.
Zenyatta's career will end with those 19 consecutive wins and one loss, by a head to Blame in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic. Blame likely will be voted 2010 Horse of the Year and that is fine. The colt had a terrific year and won the sport's championship race.
That will be just an award. There is one of those every year.
What will linger is the emotion of anybody who saw Zenyatta charge at Blame, the wire and perfection in those final yards. That she didn't get there will matter in some historical context. That she was trying so hard to get there will matter more.
Which is why the great mare's trainer John Shirreffs removed the barricades around Barn 41 yesterday morning. He wanted anybody who was there to get right next to Zenyatta while she was grazing. It is why dozens of cars stopped on Longfield Avenue to take in the scene outside the barn.
