Zenyatta’s run of perfection unappreciated

The good news this week was Zenyatta won the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park to stay unbeaten in 17 career starts. The bad news was only 12,232 were in attendance and the race barely made a ripple in the national sports media.

If a 3-year-old colt were to win three races in five weeks, namely the Triple Crown, he would be made out as a savior of racing. Meanwhile, a much more difficult task of winning all 17 starts, nearly all graded stakes, is not looked upon as kindly.

Zenyatta has been debated on various fronts. Is she one of the greatest racehorses of all time, is she a regional runner and synthetic track specialist, or has she been managed carefully to win all of her handpicked starts?

There is truth in all of it. The final test for Zenyatta will be her most important in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6. By then, she should be 19-for-19 if she wins her next starts at Del Mar and Oak Tree.

Churchill Downs is an old-fashioned dirt track, and the Classic will have a full field of the very best. A Zenyatta win would make it impossible not to give her proper respect.

In some way, Zenyatta represents how the priorities in racing are backward. When she should be the biggest star in racing, she gets overshadowed by horses running in the Triple Crown. When she should be running for much bigger purses, again the 3-year-olds get a lion’s share each season.

When horses such as Zenyatta and Rail Trip are being managed to have long careers, 3-year-olds are pushed hard to have meteoric runs that end far too quickly. I wish longevity remained a priority among racing owners and trainers.

■ CHRB MEETING — A crucial California Horse Racing Board meeting is scheduled Tuesday at Hollywood Park, where Magna boss Frank Stronach is set to unveil his plans for Santa Anita and California racing in general.

One announcement might be the return to a dirt surface at Santa Anita.

This will be the litmus test for those who have blamed synthetic surfaces for the ills of California racing. I think the surface choice, dirt or synthetics, has masked the main problem, which is low purse money in a competitive national environment.

If Southern California offered higher purses, the horsemen would stay to race regardless of the surface. That should be priority one to fix racing in the state.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.