ZENYATTA RETIRED

  • Anthony G
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ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 6 months ago
#109236
ZENYATTA RETIRED, GOES TO LANE’S END



The once defeated champion Zenyatta has officially been retired. She will be boarded at Lane’s End Farm, home of leading sires A P Indy and Smart Strike to name but a few.


Twice named Eclipse Champion Older Female, Zenyatta is a leading contender for Horse of the Year honours this year. She has twice lost out in the last two years, and many feel it will be fitting if she receives the award this year.


A winner of 19 of 20 starts, Zenyatta’s sole loss came when a desperately unlucky runner up in the 2010 Breeders Cup Classic, where Blame beat her a head.

Zenyatta’s 19 previous victories include a pair of Breeders Cup wins, the 2008 Ladies Classic and 2009 Classic itself.

She won 13 Gr1 races, and over $7.3, and is probably the greatest mare to ever race in North America.


A daughter of hugely successful sire Street Cry, Zenyatta is a half-sister to multiple Gr1 winner Balance, as well as the up and coming Souper Spectacular – winner of his last three starts.


Zenyatta’s dam, Vertigineux (by Kris S), was named broodmare of the year in 2008.



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Anthony G

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  • Dave Scott
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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 6 months ago
#109243
Sad for the racegoers and fans but great for the great Zenyatta (tu)

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  • Dave Scott
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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 6 months ago
#110243
Departing Zenyatta bids farewell to California

USA: Zenyatta, who lost her bid to retire with a perfect record when beaten in the Breeders' Cup Classic by Blame, said goodbye to her many fans in California on Sunday with a paddock appearance during the Sunday afternoon card at Hollywood Park.

She was to be flown to Kentucky on Monday, where she will make another appearance, at Keeneland, before settling in at William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm.


"This is pretty amazing," said owner Jerry Moss of his great mare's appearance. "It's very moving and certainly deserving."

Moss added of the reaction he is getting to Zenyatta's retirement: "My desk is ridiculous. People sent tapes, photos and moving tributes. It's amazing what she means to people."

Zenyatta ended her career with 19 victories in 20 starts. Her final battle will be with Blame once again for the coveted Horse of the Year prize at January's Eclipse Awards. Zenyatta is certain to be voted Champion Older Female for a third year running at least.

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  • Dave Scott
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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 6 months ago
#110453
Warm welcome for Zenyatta at Keeneland

A HEARTY group of 1,200 fans braved frigid temperatures to be on hand at Keeneland on Monday evening to welcome their equine heroine Zenyatta to Kentucky.

The reigning queen of US racing had departed California earlier in the day, having bade farewell to her friends there at Hollywood Park on Sunday.

She now goes to Lane's End Farm, where she will be bred in the new year. No mate has been chosen for her at this point.

Zenyatta concluded her career with 19 wins in 20 starts, her lone loss coming to Blame in her final start when she narrowly lost her bid to win the Breeders' Cup Classic for a second time.

Ann Moss, who along with her husbandJerry owns Zenyatta, told the Louisville Courier-Journal of the occasion: "When you are with her, you're in such joy you don't really think bout anything but smiling. When you're with her, everything is good.

"And look at all the people that were here to welcome her on a cold night. It's huge because the East Coast doesn't know her quite as well and they're all going to fall in love and I think it's already started."

Zenyatta was presented a gift basket consisting of mints, peppermint suckers, carrots and several bottles of Guinness by Keeneland.

"This is incredible," said Zenyatta's regular rider Mike Smith. "It's just so amazing to see. I've never experienced or seen anything like this in my life."

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  • Saksy
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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 5 months ago
#112339
Great article by Robyn Louw from the sportingpost:

Hoof Prints In My Heart

Many people will walk in and out of your life,
But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart
– Eleanor Roosevelt

We all have a seminal catastrophic moment imprinted somewhere in our memory. For some it’s JFK’s assassination, Lady Diana’s car crash, or those planes hitting the twin towers. The sights, sounds and feelings of that exact moment are somehow etched indelibly somewhere deep inside and will travel with us for the rest of our lives.

In the same way I carry an image with me – it’s burnt through, right down to cellular level, and sits somewhere alongside my twisted strands of DNA. I know it will never leave me and will haunt my dreams and spring to mind unbidden when I least expect it. In it stands a big black horse, so covered in grit that she’s nearly grey. Her lovely long mare ears (stuffed with cotton wool) are pricked, but there are beads of sweat running down her body, her nostrils are flared and she’s obviously blowing hard. In the saddle sits her rider, cap in hand, eyes lifted to heaven in supplication and forcibly choking back emotion. Not merely defeated, but beaten in every sense of the word.

I may head into my dotage and lose my teeth, my eyesight and my memory, but I will never forget the feel of the laminate flooring under my bare feet that Sunday morning, standing by the computer in my pajamas, tears streaming down my face. Zenyatta had lost.

I stared at that image for the longest time, simply feeling numb. Finally, struggling to breathe over the lump in my throat, I clicked the video link, my composure eroding with each stride as that big brave horse ran her guts out for a lousy second place.

There was shock, there was outrage, there was disbelief and finally, a simple and profound silence that reverberated around the world.

Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible.” Whatever Trevor. This wasn’t FAIR! She lost by a nose! How can there be any justice in the world when the greatest horse in it loses by a nose?! How can anything ever be the same again?

Someone mocked up a Youtube clip of the film Downfall, changing it to depict Hitler’s reaction to the race. His emotional tirade probably best expresses my feelings - ‘How could she have lost? 19 races and she’s never lost! He doesn’t understand. None of them can possibly understand. She was MY horse! When she did her little dance in the paddock, and posed during the post parade, it made all of our hearts melt. Not just mine, but EVERYONE’S! I keep telling myself that 19-1 is nothing to be ashamed of. But it’s just not the same as being undefeated. It just isn’t.’

I don’t know why and I don’t know how, but this spectacular horse affected people the world over. Watching her run somehow lit you up inside and the world felt like a better place simply knowing she was in it. Poetry in motion doesn’t come close. She was sublime. When she ran she brought joy, she brought hope and, for a small, bright moment, a belief that there was perfection in the world.

Although she will not retire undefeated, Zenyatta proved that greatness is not measured in numbers, and perhaps like Man O’War and Native Dancer, her single, dramatic defeat will be the event that cements her status as a racing legend once and for all.

Candy Jones, from Lexington, Kentucky said ‘No one really understands what makes her so special. Everyone knows she can race, but it’s something in her heart, some kind of special light that she emits, and the world just hangs on her like a huge star.”

When you read reports about her, there is repeated reference to the energy she emits and it seems to have touched and inspired everyone who saw her. John Shirreffs tells of a school teacher from Santa Barbara who was wheelchair bound the first time she visited Zenyatta at his barn. Before they left for Kentucky she paid them another visit – this time she was carrying three cameras and walking. People suffering personal tragedy and terminal illness state Zenyatta as their inspiration for defying the odds. Most touching is the story of another teacher from Quebec named Marjorie Gawley. She had loved dancing and derived much joy in her final days from a video of Zenyatta’s trademark ‘dance.’ When she passed on, the English-teaching community in Quebec asked if there was any way Zenyatta could run the Classic in Marjorie’s name and when she went to the post at Churchill Downs, she did so with Marjorie’s name in her browband.

Trainer Steve Penrod, whose barn Zenyatta graced for her Breeders Cup stay, had never seen anything like it. People travelled across the country, across the world, content simply to stand and watch her graze and soak up her presence. “It was like a Hollywood movie production,” he said. “And the most impressive thing was seeing all the cars stopped on Longfield Avenue, as people got out to watch Zenyatta graze through the fence. She’s the biggest draw since Secretariat.”

Again, on her farewell appearance at Keeneland last week, over 1,000 fans turned up simply for a glimpse of their hero. They braved snow, freezing temperatures and a 2 hour delay for a 20 minute audience with ‘The Queen’. In her usual style, Zenyatta did not disappoint, doing her trademark dance for her fans one last time. Her groom, Mario Espinoza led her around the ring, stopping occasionally to allow a lucky few to reach out and touch that famous mahogany coat. The Daily Racing Form tells of one young woman marveling "I actually touched her!" as her friends stopped to put their hands in hers, laughing, as if wanting to pick up whatever it is that made Zenyatta special.

In what must be a bit of a culture shock after the mild Californian weather, Zenyatta has now retired to Lane’s End Farm to start her stud career and there is much speculation as to who will be selected as her first mate. With the Horse of The Year honours due to be awarded in January, there is enormous pressure from the public for it to go to Zenyatta, but to be honest, an award (or lack of one) will really not change the way people feel about her one jot.

I have not been able to write about Zenyatta before now. The feelings have been too sharp and too close to the surface. However, like poking around at a pulled tooth, the wound is still raw, but the edges are starting to heal over now.

We all dream of owning a ‘big’ horse, knowing we would be lucky simply to witness such a horse once in a lifetime, nevermind owning one. But in the end it doesn’t really matter – through their kindness, the Mosses and Shirreffs have shared Zenyatta with all of us. And somehow, simply by watching her run and loving this great horse, I too have become a small part of her story. And I humbly take my place next to all the other crazies by feeling that in some way, there is a tiny part of her that will always be mine.

But now it is over and all we have are treasured memories. But then that’s always been the way with horses. They compel you to love them, and then break your heart in pieces. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

Cindy Adams said ‘There are friends and faces that may be forgotten, but there are horses that never will be’. I can’t explain it or make sense of it rationally, but when this big black mare galloped into my life she left her big, heavy hoof prints all over my heart. And despite my swollen eyes and aching throat, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In the words of Stephanie Lambert - ‘God smiled one day and created Zenyatta’

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  • Dave Scott
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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 5 months ago
#112341
Great stuff!

Plus I must say have always enjoyed these Hitler clips...............lol

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  • zoro
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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 5 months ago
#112345
BRILLIANT STUFF.

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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 5 months ago
#114394
Goldikova, Zenyatta and Blame in Eclipse battle

Racingpost.

GOLDIKOVA will face stiff opposition from the Breeders' Cup Classic one-two - Blame and Zenyatta - for the Horse of the Year award at the 40th annual Eclipse Awards dinner atFontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in Florida on January 17.

Blame is also a hot favourite to pick up champion older male, while Zenyatta is likely to pick up the female equivalent and Goldikova heads the champion female turf category.

There will also be a Special Eclipse Award for the connections of Zenyatta- owners Jerry and Ann Moss, trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Mike Smith, as well as her racing manager, exercise rider, groom, hotwalker and assistant trainer - to honour the way they embraced her popularity and shared her with the public in 2010.

Blame won four of his five races last season, three of which were Grade 1s - culminating in his thrilling defeat of Zenyatta. Goldikova, who also lost only once in 2010 and became the first horse to win a Breeders' Cup race three times, is the only finalist set to race in 2011.

Voting for both divisional honours and the overall Horse of the Year award closed on Tuesday. Three finalists for each division were announced on Thursday and all winners will be revealed at the dinner.

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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 5 months ago
#114404
Know she won`t get it but it has to be Goldi for me,Goldi done it at the highest level her whole career..

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Re: Re: ZENYATTA RETIRED

14 years 4 months ago
#116095
Zenyatta beats Blame to US horse of the year title

USA: After finishing runner-up in 2008 and 2009, Zenyatta was finally named US Horse of the Year at Monday night's Eclipse Awards ceremony in Miami.

The hugely popular mare, now retired to the paddocks at Lanes End in Kentucky, beat her Breeders' Cup Classic conqueror Blame and Goldikova to land the most prestigious accolade in American racing.

Arguments over which horse should be crowned horse of the year have raged ever since Blame's unbearably dramatic victory at Churchill Downs, where he famously ended Zenyatta's 19-race unbeaten sequence by a head.

Zenyatta's connections gained a measure of revenge, however, when she won the ballot by 128 votes to 102, erasing the bitter memory of last year's defeat by Rachel Alexandra in another close contest.

One of the most popular horses in US racing history, the celebrated daughter of Street Cry won five races in 2010, all of them Grade 1 events against her own sex.

Blame, who has been retired to his owner-breeders Claiborne, won four out of five, among them two Grade 1s besides the Classic in the Stephen Foster and Whitney Handicaps.

Goldikova, who received only five votes in the horse of the year poll, retained her title as champion female turf performer.

By winning the title for the second time, the tripe Breeders' Cup winner emulated Ouija Board, who also won the same award twice in 2004 and 2006.

With 212 votes, the Freddie Head-trained mare was the overwhelming winner in a three-way ballot beating ex-Andre Fabre-trained Proviso, a multiple Grade 1 winner for Bill Mott in the States, and the ill-fated Tuscan Evening. Proviso earned 15 votes and Tuscan Evening 11.

Goldikova also received a single vote in the award for older female performer - the only vote cast against Zenyatta, who took the award with 237 votes.

Among other highlights, Classic winner Blame was the unanimous choice as champion older male, while Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky became the first horse since Spectacular Bid (1978-79) to follow up a two-year-old Eclipse Award the following year with the three-year-old title.

Leading prize-money earner Todd Pletcher landed his fifth award as outstanding trainer while Ramon Dominguez won his first title as outstanding jockey after a season in which he also led the money lists.

Frank Stronach's Adena Springs operation was named outstanding breeder for the eighth time while top grass horse Gio Ponti landed his third title by repeating his 2009 award as top turf performer. He was also champion older male in 2009, and will have the chance to add to his laurels as he stays in training as a six-year-old in 2011.

Eclipse Awards are determined by votes of members of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Turf Writers Association and the Daily Racing Form.

There is no real European equivalent to the awards, more highly coveted than any other in American racing.

ECLIPSE AWARD WINNERS 2010

Horse of the year: Zenyatta (John Shirreffs)

Older male: Blame (Al Stall)

Older female: Zenyatta (John Shirreffs)

3-y-o male: Lookin At Lucky (Bob Baffert)

3-y-o female: Blind Luck (Jerry Hollendorfer)

2-y-o male: Uncle Mo (Todd Pletcher)

2-y-o female: Awesome Feather (Stanley Gold)

Male turf: Gio Ponti (Christophe Clement)

Female turf: Goldikova (Freddie Head)

Male sprinter: Big Drama (David Fawkes)

Female sprinter: Dubai Majesty (Bret Calhoun)

Steeplechase horse: Slip Away (Tom Voss)

Owner: WinStar Farm

Breeder: Adena Springs

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: Ramon Dominguez

Apprentice: Omar Moreno

Special Eclipse award (not voted for): Team Zenyatta

Merit awards (not voted for): Claiborne Farm, Marylou Whitney

BREAKDOWN OF FIRST-PLACE VOTES

Horse of the Year: Zenyatta 128, Blame 102, Goldikova 5

Older male: Blame 238

Older female: Zenyatta 237, Goldikova 1

3-y-o male: Lookin At Lucky 224, Eskendereya 5,Paddy O'Prado 1

3-y-o female: Blind Luck 237, No Such Word 1

2-y-o male: Uncle Mo 236, Boys at Tosconova 1, Pluck 1

2-y-o female: Awesome Feather 235, Turbulent Descent 2, More Than Real 1

Male turf: Gio Ponti 199, Dangerous Midge 22, Winchester 6

Female turf: Goldikova 212, Proviso 15, Tuscan Evening 11

Male sprinter: Big Drama 170, Majesticperfection 61, Discreetly Mine 4

Female sprinter: Dubai Majesty 232, Franny Freud 3, Rightly So 2

Steeplechase horse: Slip Away 175, Arcadius 25, Percussionist 6

Owner: WinStar Farm 110, Jerome and Ann Moss 81, Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider 16

Breeder: Adena Springs 69, Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider 55, Brereton Jones 43

Trainer: Todd Pletcher 168, John Shirreffs 28, JerryHollendorfer 17

Jockey: Ramon Dominguez 124, Garrett Gomez 60, John Velazquez 32

Apprentice: Omar Moreno 197, Forest Boyce 6, Freddy Lenclud 4

AMERICAN HORSES OF THE YEAR

2010 Zenyatta (John Shirreffs)

2009 Rachel Alexandra (Steve Asmussen)

2008 Curlin (Steve Asmussen)

2007 Curlin (Steve Asmussen)

2006 Invasor (Kiaran McLaughlin)

2005 Saint Liam (Rick Dutrow)

2004 Ghostzapper (Bobby Frankel)

2003 Mineshaft (Neil Howard)

2002 Azeri (Laura de Seroux)

2001 Point Given (Bob Baffert)

2000 Tiznow (Jay Robbins)

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