If I booked Zenyatta's first date

Now that Zenyatta has stated her case for Horse of the Year with her exhilarating victory in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic, thoughts turn to the breeding shed.

While it might be nice to see the fabulous 5-year-old Street Cry mare take a shot at breaking Cigar's North American record of 16 wins in a row -- she's presently 14-for-14 lifetime, of course -- the likelihood of her ever racing again is practically zero. So, now to speculate on who that breeding date for Zenyatta might be.

Maybe it's too conventional in thinking, but I would first consider Giant's Causeway.

Zenyatta carries no Northern Dancer, so adding some over a Mr. Prospector-line mare is hard to quibble with. The cross does offer 4x4 inbreeding to Roberto and 5x5 Halo, which adds up to a linebreeding of 6S x 5S x 6D x 5D Hail to Reason.

Giant's Causeway at this writing is No. 4 all-time in progeny earnings on synthetic surfaces (one notch behind Street Cry), which should make Zenyatta's connections of owner Jerry Moss and trainer John Shirreffs happy, since they're based in California where all the major tracks are mandated to have all-weather surfaces instead of conventional dirt. But Giant's Causeway can get any sort of horse. He has multiple G1 progeny winners on dirt, turf and synthetics.

What's not to like?

Another consideration for Zenyatta, in my estimation, is to avoid the chance of adding too much size to her prospective foals. Zenyatta is as big a mare as you'll find; she stands more than 17 hands high. Sending her to a whopper of a stallion could result in babies who are so big they can't move fast enough to get out of their own way. Or that can't stay sound. Despite Zen's clearly overcoming the "too-much-size" pitfalls (perhaps in part because of masterful management by Shirreffs, who only raced her 14 times in a three-year career), it's my belief that an average-sized or even smaller horse is generally better both for athleticism and soundness.

Giant's Causeway has good size, but at 16.1 hands he isn't a monster.

In a few pedigree discussion groups, I've witnessed other recommendations for Zenyatta. One person suggested Hard Spun, who I like on pedigree. But if Zen were my mare and I were breeding to keep and race the foals -- as Moss likely will be -- then I wouldn't choose a stallion whose first runners are yet to prove themselves.

It would be easy enough to make cases for plenty of other top stallions, and for two more top choices, I would look to Awesome Again and big-splash youngster Medaglia D'Oro, the latter of whom is sire of Zenyatta's off-track (but never on-track) rival, splendid filly Rachel Alexandra.

But my top pick would be Giant's Causeway -- performance plus all-surface versatility.

Have ideas of your own? Please detail them in the comments section below.

El Prado dead at 20: World loses splendid sire

In the wake of the loss of the great Gone West, it was particularly a shock for me to learn this evening of the death of El Prado at the "middle" age of 20.

El Prado reportedly died Monday in his paddock of an apparent heart attack.

A son of the stellar sire Sadler's Wells, out of Irish Thousand Guineas-winning mare Lady Capulet (Sir Ivor-Cap and Bells, by Tom Fool), El Prado had everything it took to be successful not only in the track, but in the breeding shed. And he did not fail to disappoint in either case.

The dashing gray won four of just nine races lifetime, but three of them were group-stakes (including the Irish National S.-G2) and was named Irish champion 2-year-old. Half-brother Entitled (Mill Reef) was Irish champion at age 3.

Their family included El Prado's fellow National Stakes winner Sir Wimborne (his dam's full brother), and their three-quarters brother Drone, who won 4-for-4 lifetime and went on to earn the note as the broodmare-sire of two Kentucky Derby winners, Charismatic and Grindstone. El Prado's second dam, stakes-placed Cap and Bells, was a winning full sister of Arlington Classic and American Derby-winner Dunce, and to stakes winners Ghan Fleet and Ace Destroyer. The female family also boasts numerous other blacktype winners, including: Almushtarak (Sandown Mile-G2); Kentucky Jockey Club S.-G2 winner Notebook; Turkish Treasure (Park S.-G3); Magic Mirror (the U.K.'s Norfolk S.-G3); and Dashing Colours (highweight older mare in Ireland from 7 to 9 1/2 furlongs).

Standing at Adena Springs in Kentucky, most recently for $75,000, El Prado unequivocally proved his worth at stud, and sired a versatile array of sons and daughters. His best include U.S. turf champion Kitten's Joy, classic-distance Grade 1 winner Medaglia D'Oro, Breeders' Cup Mile winner Artie Schiller, two-time G1 winner Borrego, French-raced G1 winner Spanish Moon, and Spinster S.-G1 winning filly Asi Siempre.

Led by Medaglia D'Oro (sire of the breathtaking Rachel Alexandra and others) and Kitten's Joy (whose first crop includes 2009 juvenile stakes winner William's Kitten) some of El Prado's sons are showing some of their sire's ability to pass along talent to their foals.

I certainly had expected to see another crop or two -- or five, or six -- from this excellent stallion, whose sons and daughters must carry on in his absence.

I believe they will acquit their sire well.

Photo: Louise Reinagel