[tfm]

Early on, when watching Curlin run, it became apparent to me that he was just 'pushing a higher gear' than his peers. This is track cycling term that adapts very nicely to horse racing. It means that a given cyclist has the ability to spin a higher/harder gear than most of the others; this equates to a LONGER chainline (a smaller cog). So, this cyclist's 'spin' is longer than that of his competitors, which means that it takes him longer to spin a revolution but once he gets it going he's able to go faster. A cyclist that has the ability to spin a higher/longer gear will thus have an advantage in terms of speed --- it'll be harder to get it going but once he does he'll be able to go faster (cover more ground) with LESS revolutions. The only way this cyclist get beat is if he is forced to PUSH this big gear TOO FAST TOO SOON.

A perfect example of this in another sport is Usain Bolt. Typically, taller runners don't make the best sprinters because they just can't get their legs moving fast enough to compete with their more compact contemporaries. Bolt is the exception. Early on, he was at an additional disadvantage in that he wasn't able to break as well as the others and was always running from far behind. As he learned to get better starts, he became UNBEATABLE. His stride is LONGER than that of the others (higher gear) and once he gets it going he covers more ground than they do. Simply put, he can't be beaten.

Same principal applies to Zenyatta. She's a big horse with a very long stride and once she gets going she'll run ANYTHING down. Her ability to push this 'higher gear' is so pronounced that it doesn't really matter whether they go fast or slow ahead of her: as long as she has a reasonable amount of ground to make up the difference, she'll ALWAYS get it done. And, her connections fully understand this is. Moreover, by running from the rear (notice I didn't write 'off the pace' because what she does is not determined by numeric pace) she's never in danger of pushing that big gear too hard too soon.