Claire Novak, staff writer for The Blood-Horse, shares the story of a record-breaking racehorse who was saved by veterinarians after sustaining a life-threatening injury during training. Share your thoughts on the blog page.

Her name means "power," and in four starts the seal-bay filly they call Potesta exuded just that.

After a runner-up finish in her March 22 debut, she took the Hollywood Oaks off a maiden score, set a track record while blazing a mile in 1:34.86 in the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar, and was prepping for a start in the Zenyatta Stakes with her connections flying high on the possibility of a Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic run. They thought she could win it.

"She was so classy around the barn and track," recalled bloodstock agent Craig Rounsefell, son-in-law of trainer Mike Mitchell. "From the first time Mike first galloped her, he knew he had something special. Breezing, she could pretty much do whatever time you wanted to do. On the racetrack, too, horses don’t really do what she did