It concerns me that there is a chance that you, Zenyatta: Queen of the Race Track, will not be awarded the trophy of “Horse of the Year”.  What more do you have to do to show the world how electrifying you are, how talented you are down the stretch, how much you mean to the Sport of Kings and how much you are loved by so many race fans old or new, young or old.  You truly deserve better.

But life is not always fair.  For whatever reason some get accolades that are somewhat undeserving while others who are greatly deserving go unrewarded. “That’s life”, as the song goes.  But don’t let that get you down.  You are not the first who will go without official presentations of greatness with titles and trophies.  You have won yours already, and they are on display in the hearts of millions of Americans and fans around the world.

But when you are feeling down and slightly overlooked, know that you have company.  Another member of that group is none other than Cher.  The list of achievements for this superstar reads like a litany that would overshadow most musicians of our time.

–She holds the Hot 100 record for the longest hit-making career span, with 33 years between the release of her first and most recent #1 singles, in 1965 and 1999.

–Cher ended her 3-year-long “Farewell Tour” in 2005 as the most successful tour by a female solo artist of all time.

–She has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes, a Cannes Film Festival Award and a People’s Choice Award for her work in film, music and television.

–With a career lasting over 45 years, Cher has sold over 100 million records worldwide!

–She is often referred to as The Goddess of Pop.

If you want to get totally blown away, look up Cher on Wikipedia. You will be amazed as well as a bit disgruntled.  Cher, for some unknown reason, is NOT in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So you see, Queen Zen, life isn’t always fair but know that just like in the Wizard of Oz, the lion didn’t need a badge to be courageous, or the tin man a heart to feel emotion, or the scarecrow a brain to figure things out.  And you and Cher don’t need a trophy to know that you are the “greatest” in the eyes of millions.

On November 6th of this year Churchill Downs may be in for a payday of a lifetime.  It is on this day that the famous Zenyatta dances onto the track and holds the potential for Churchill Downs, or as it is known by shareholders as Churchill Downs Incorporated, to make a windfall profit of somewhere between $2,000 and $200,000+ on just one race.

This free money event won’t be discussed by the announcers and won’t even be talked about by the officers or employees at the famous racetrack.  Zenyatta won’t even get a cut of the actions that she brings directly to CDI’s bottom line; even though she is the only reason that pile of money will be deposited this Saturday.

Now the profit on this hidden event won’t be locked in for about 90 days or whenever tickets go unredeemable.  But rest assured that if Zenyatta wins and the time elapses on the thousands or tens of thousands of $2 win tickets with “Breeders’ Cup” and “Zenyatta’s number” inked all over them, CDI’s bank balance will show an unusually positive figure.

Money that normally would have been paid out for the win wagers will go unpaid. Instead, bettors, collectors and lovers of Zenyatta will be thinking of ways to sell or display these treasured artifacts of the future.

However, if Zenyatta does not win then it will be business as usual and those tickets will not be able to be cashed anyway.  But if she wins, those $2 gems will be stuffed away for years only to grow in value.  To cash in the ticket with the estimated odds of 3-1ML will bring the pay off to about $8 to win. But, I believe the final odds will be in the neighborhood of 6-5 or less and the pay out to be closer to $4.

But if the ticket is held for twenty, forty or fifty years when the movie Zenyatta: The Story of Perfection comes out in theaters, the value will be measured at more like a 50-1 odds or more.  A nice investment return possibility and worth the risk at only $2 per share or should I tote ticket.

One final thought:
I know that Churchill Downs will know exactly the amount of their windfall from profits of un-cashed tickets as soon as they expire. I offer the Board of Directors this idea: to make the amount known to the public with an announcement of a donation in the same amount to a worthy charity like The Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund, Charities for Thoroughbreds, Breast Cancer, etc., etc. It’ll be your choice of course. Now, wouldn’t that would be a great act of charity and a wonderful public statement for the Company, the Track and it’s employees and for the Sport of Kings. The best publicity money can buy without costing a dime.