Perfection in any sport, is very tough to achieve. Sometimes you can lose it fair and square, ask the 2007 New England Patriots. Sometime you lose it not so fairly, ask Armando Galaragga. But any which way you shape it up, perfection in the world of sports is something that does not come along too often. And that is why the story of Zenyatta is even more impressive, than perhaps any other.

Zenyatta, a mare, has 17 wins in 17 career starts. Even more impressive, Zenyatta is 6 years old, fairly far along for a race horse. This is expected to be her final year racing, and it has been an impressive career for Zenyatta, to say the least. While the first 11 wins of her career came against inferior, grade 3 or 4 competition, her last six have been the starts that have stamped her footprint in the annals of time. Her last victory, she was set as a 1-2 favorite at Hollywood Park in the Vanity Handicap race. She fell far behind early in the race, but just as it looked as her streak was coming to an end, she was able to track down the horse ahead of her, St. Trinians, who had the second best odds as a 2-1 favorite, and nose him out at the finish line.

The win pushed Zenyatta’s total earnings for her career over the 6 million dollar mark. More importantly, it put her past some elite company, in terms of races in a row won. Before the race, she was tied with 4 other horses, Cigar, Citation, Mr. Frisky, and Hallowed Dreams, who all had won 16 races in a row. Zenyatta now finds her three away from holding the record all to herself, as Pepper’s Pride holds the title right now with 19 victories in a row, albeit that Zenyatta has run against fairly stiffer competition than Pepper’s Pride.

As stated earlier, this is expected to be the final year of her racing career. As things are mapped out right now, it looks as if her final ever race will be at Churchill Downs in the Breeders Cup Classic this November. Zenyatta won the same race last year by a wide margin, and if she were to win the 2 races before it, repeating in the Breeders Cup, would be her 20th, and final victory. Something even Tom Brady can be jealous of.