Zenyatta shows her exceptional class again

As a giant mechanical bird cruised in over venerable Hollywood Park on Sunday for an LAX landing, the first lady of horse racing was taking flight.

As she always does, Zenyatta had hung back, as much as 14 lengths off the lead on the backstretch. Just because this was history in the making, just because a victory would give her an unprecedented 17 in a row, didn’t mean this female phenom was about to change her style.

With Zenyatta, it has always been about finishing. With a flourish.

And so she did, teasing a crowd of 12,232 right to the end, as is her wont.

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FOR THE RECORD:
Horse racing: In Monday’s Sports section, Bill Dwyre’s column about Zenyatta’s win at Hollywood Park - her 17th victory in a row - said that Native Dancer was buried in the paddock at that race track. It is Native Diver who is buried there. —

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They came into the homestretch of the $250,000 Grade I Vanity Handicap with a very good 5-year-old mare, St Trinians, in front and in high gear. She had won seven times in 12 starts, was carrying nine pounds less than Zenyatta’s 129 and had hot jockey Martin Garcia riding her hard. Garcia knew, unless something terrible had happened or Zenyatta was suddenly feeling her age at 6, that she would be coming.

Jockey Mike Smith, who has been aboard for all but the first three of unbeaten Zenyatta’s 17 wins, steered her to the outside and asked her to run. She did, but so did St Trinians.

“I went up a gear,” Smith said, “and then the other horse hit me with another one.”

There was a moment, as there always is in Zenyatta’s races, when it seemed she wouldn’t quite make it. The grandstand at Hollywood Park, normally a vast expanse of emptiness, vibrated with excitement and anticipation.

In this chess game, Zenyatta seemed matched. Check and check mate. The finish line was approaching fast.

In the first row of the stands behind the winner’s circle, trainer John Shirreffs knew better.

“I was watching the distance between the horses,” he said. “It was staying about the same. And she hadn’t started her kick yet.”

Bigger than most other thoroughbreds, Zenyatta took a couple of long seconds to hit the clutch again. Once she did, it was startling, magnificent, goose-bump-inducing. As it always is.

She had run the last eighth of a mile in 11.2 seconds. You’d be fine with that in your Porsche.

She had gone from it-looks-impossible to a half-a-length victory ina time of 1 minute 49.01 seconds that was slightly faster than her winning time in this race in 2008, when she won the first of her now three Vanity victories.

She had made history. She had one-upped the legacy of Citation, Cigar and Mister Frisky in the category of consecutive wins, and she had done it while remaining unbeaten, something none of them, even Triple Crown-winning Citation, had done.

Jerry Moss, who shares ownership with his wife, Ann, was both stunned and relieved.

“I don’t know what to say anymore,” Moss said, adding, “She’s won 17 in a row. Nobody can take that away from her.”

Zenyatta is a superstar, and if there is any way a horse can know that, she is the one who does.

Before the race, she posed for pictures in the crowded paddock. She stopped, perked her ears and waited for a flurry of clicks before prancing on. Smith got a leg up from Shirreffs, patted her affectionately and took her around the entire circle of the paddock, a rarity at Hollywood Park, where the shorter half-circle is the norm. Right behind the shrine to Native Dancer, who is buried there, she started her dancing and prancing. Shirreffs’ wife, Dottie Ingordo, said, “She loves the attention. What woman doesn’t?”

Bob Baffert stood nearby. Perhaps the most famous trainer in the sport right now, Baffert didn’t have a horse running, but said he couldn’t stand watching at home. He wanted to witness this history firsthand, and, like everybody else, didn’t want any departure from that script. He watched the race with owner Arnold Zetcher, whose Zardana was among those challenging Zenyatta.

“If I see Zardana well in front coming down the stretch,” Baffert said, “I’m going to tell Arnold that I gotta go, that I left Bode [his young son] in the car.”

Smith brought the victorious Zenyatta slowly back along the grandstand. Hollywood Park rocked, the loudest 12,232 voices in recent memory. Smith turned her to face the grandstand and held his racing helmet aloft in celebration. Among those on their feet, applauding in a tribute that symbolized what horse racing can still create, was Mike Mitchell, trainer of second-place St Trinians, who ran well and lost to immortality.

That immortality faced her public with dignity, ears perked in acknowledgement, but appearing not that surprised at the fuss. When it was time to carry on, she knew exactly where to go. Which was where she has, after every race.

The still perfect queen of her sport went to the winner’s circle. There, the picture taking included shots of the jockey who had given her yet another perfect ride, standing next to Bo Derek, the only perfect 10 on the California Horse Racing Board.

It was that kind of day.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com