I feel like as writing this entry today, I should probably have a Spice Girls record blaring in the background, but per usual, I'm at work currently and my co-workers do not necessarily share the same love for 90s/2000s pop music as I do. A week from Saturday, I truly believe that Chantal Sutherland will make history and be not only the first female jockey to race in the Dubai World Cup, but I think she has a mega chance to win. Now I was not always a fan of Chantal, but after her performance in the Breeder's Cup, I was pretty blown away. Chantal and Game on Dude was demolishing the field one-by-one, until Drosselmeyer came literally out of nowhere to win. Drosselmeyer is a distance horse though. His connections almost entered him in the Marathon, and he won the Belmont, (the longest of the Triple Crown), that is why he had a lot of horse left, but he got lucky and went wide to win. I do not know a great amount about the field entering the World Cup, considering there is so much going on in American racing that following other countries would in fact make my head explode. But this is a 2000m race (one mile and two furlongs), and we have seen GOD win at this length from taking the lead early, and following with the pack and then breaking away. In his last start, in the San Antonio, Chantal had him relax a little bit with a couple of horses and then at the end he increased on his lead. I think Baffert and Chantal are turning this gelding into a much more versatile horse. So You Think is currently the favorite in the World Cup, does anyone remember that Chantal and GOD finished ahead of So You Think in the Breeder's Cup Classic? SYT came in fifth place, and I understand that he had eight group one wins, but he just did nothing to impress me.
Chantal is no joke of a rider, and contrary to what I used to believe, she does not get her mounts just because she's pretty. Even though I loved the reality series "Jockeys" I think it hurt some of the riders involved because it made the viewer to interested in the personal lives of each jock as opposed to their actual athletic ability. In a way, it portrayed Chantal as the woman who did not want to quit her career just yet to have a baby with Mike Smith. And of course, Mike Smith is "America's Sweetheart Jockey." He was Zenyatta's jockey (and if you don't love Zenyatta, you my friend, are heartless), but as a viewer, you almost got so sucked into the drama that you were mad at Chantal for choosing her career. As, the viewer, we made Chantal the antagonist because she was being a feminist, this is when the finger is pointed at me for being a hypocrite. Chantal has over 7,100 starts and over 900 wins with $45,602,970 in total earnings, over $480,000 being from this year alone. Basically Chantal is bad ass, and her career really just keeps getting better and better. She reportedly is leaving for Dubai on Monday, and hopefully kicking a lot of ass on Saturday.
Win or lose, Chantal is making history next Saturday. I will be watching, provided I can figure out the whole time change! Good Luck Chantal & Game On Dude!!
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