Good Morning Everyone!
What an amazing photo! I just had to share it with you. I’ve flown several times on horse planes, H.E.Tex Sutton, but those planes do not have windows. Ann was on a plane recently and took this photo from her window. It is so unique to see the reflection of the plane in the clouds! In my opinion, this is truly a WOW moment!
There were other WOW moments over the weekend in racing. The results to the 3 Year Old Derby Preps left the entire Kentucky Derby picture wide open. My friend, MR.COMMONS, ran very well and was 3rd in the Santa Anita Derby. Bernardini’s son, ARTHUR’S TALE, was a closing 2nd in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The Illinois Derby winner, JOE VANN, ran a very good race…but is not nominated to the Kentucky Derby. To run, his owners would have to supplement him to the race and that is extremely expensive. His team will have to make this decision for themselves as to what they want to do!
What happens in stakes races is the owner/trainer have certain dates they are to comply with in order to nominate a horse to a particular race. With the Triple Crown Series, there are 2 definite times when this opportunity is offered. In mid-January, you can do the ‘EARLY NOMINATION’. This is at a cost of $600 per horse.
During the final week of March, the ‘LATE NOMINATION’ option is offered. This time the fee is $6000. Sometimes, your horse is a late developer so this provides you with a 2nd chance to be sure your horse is nominated.
After this, it is very, very expensive to nominate a horse to the Triple Crown Races. That is why most people try to do the $600 early nomination process. This gives you an opportunity to ‘watch your horse and see how he matures and advances through the early part of his 3 year old year’. If all goes well, you are nominated and ready to move forward.
On a day-to-day basis, the nomination of horses to STAKES RACES is a very interesting process. ALL stakes races have deadlines for nomination purposes before the race. Once closed…(meaning the day after the nomination deadline)… the Racing Office publishes the names of the horses who are considering running. At times, supplemental nominations may be taken for a particular race if you missed the initial nomination date, but that is for a much higher fee.
Thus, when a horse runs in a STAKES RACE, there are normally 3 fees to be paid by the owner: a nomination fee, an entry fee, and a starting fee. When you are at the track in the future, you will see this information detailed at the top of the PROGRAM PAGE or RACING FORM CHART. It will tell you exactly what the fees are to run in that particular STAKES RACE.
Some stakes races are BY INVITATION only. This means that the Racing Office invites the most promising horses to run in that STAKE. When this happens, there are NO nomination, entry or starting fees…the horse is INVITED to run! The SANTA MARGARITA (Grade 1)…which I won last year at Santa Anita…is an Invitational Stakes. I was one of the horses who received an INVITATION to participate in this Grade 1 event. I must say, that was sure a FUN RACE TO WIN!
This is all part of the BUSINESS OF HORSERACING. Thank goodness, I had MY TEAM to take care of ALL of this FOR ME! Have a great day!
With Love,
Hugs to ALL~
Z
PS…The ZENYATTA BRONZE contest is moving along. Barn 55 is drawing the names of the SWEET SIXTEEN today. We will print this list of 16 in tomorrow’s Diary. GOOD LUCK TO ALL!
gina gatewood
love the pic
live
Thanks for sharing picture! Good luck to the 32.
Kay
Very, very interesting. Thanks so much for the tutorial. Business of horse racing is certainly not for the faint of heart, though!! kp
Nancy
Thank you so much for your diary !
Samantha
You teach us so much, in horse racing and out of it <3
Are you being bred again? Also, is there an email or something I can send in stories/photos/etc to you. I have so much to share on how much you impacted my life!
Love, Sam!
Mary
Zenyatta, the picture is, indeed a Wow. Its so special that your owners and team always take so many pictures and generously share with us. Happy Spring to the entire Zenyatta Team! Hugs and Prayers to all
Rosemary McCauley
Thank you and Dottie for sharing the photo. Very unusual and beautiful. Who else is described as very unusual and beautiful? Why, it’s ZENYATTA of course. Have a great rest of the day.
Amanda
Great info! However, I’m sure I’m not the only one, we want to know know if you have an idea of when you might be visiting Bernardini again?:o
Linda Weiss
Thanks “Z”….very interesting info. Hope all is well with you pretty girl. As always you are in my thoughts & prayers.
xoxo
Arlene
Hi Zenny & Team, Thanks for all the interesting information about some of the things involved in entering a race. A lot of thought involved! Enjoyed seeing the picture. My husband and I were flying a few years ago and I took that kind of a picture! Inspiring! Maybe I’ll be the first to respond to this. Happy days, beautiful Zenny.
susan
Zenyatta! so glad to see your post! know you and all your team are so busy. i watched mr. commons and mike (and john!) on saturday and cheered them on!good info today- i had only a vague understanding of the stakes, nomination process, etc. watched all your races on youtube last night-so amazing. you are really special to so many people. and,yeah, that photo? i’ve never seen anything like it! have a wonderful day, beautiful.
Lorri
Awesome pic! Thanks for clarifying how the nomination/invitations are for stake races. It’s fun to learn that stuff. Hope you are doing well Zenny! xoxo
Maureen Feely
What a fantastic photo!!! I was on vacation Miss Z for the last 2 weeks and missed visiting with you. Glad to see everything is OK. Thanks for the lesson on Stakes racing.
Jennifer
How interesting! I had no idea how that all worked. A race horse really needs a great staff to take care of all that paper work. I’m willing to bet being a mama has a lot of paperwork as well!
Judy Maass Gadwood Loves Zenny
Hi Zenny Queen of My Heart!
I’ve been on pins & needles waiting to here from you… was wondering if you and Bernie had your second “date”.
Thanks for explaining the Derby stuff to us!!
I will be working with MVP Champions at Santa Anita on Saturday. They are selling your lightweight jersey and Mikey is going to be there to sign them! I adore Mikey LOL
Here’s the link:
http://www.mvpchampions.com/
Rhinestones for our Girly Girl! The back of the shoulder area is what your beautiful blaze is shaped like.
Arlene
Missed being #1 to respond. They got ahead of me while I was reading your post and writing my response! But that’s okay. I was one of the early ones!
Gloria Jeanne
Hi Zenny- Thank you the image, it’s awesome. Good to know about the Derby nominations, I know it’s super expensive to enter horses for certain races. Good Luck to the next round “Sweet Sixteen”!!
Trisha Veazey
Thank goodness “we” had Team Zenyatta. We are very lucky.
Is Lane’s End going to allow visitors to meet you?
Hello Barn 55, and Team Zenyatta, the greatest TB team ever.
Love hugs and kisses
Cheryl
What an amazing photo, thanks for sharing. We love you Zenyatta!
Irene Caty
Hi Zenny, What a picture of the reflection of the plane taken by Ann Moss. Heads up to Ann for takeing the picture. You always have interesting pictures on your daily post. There were many horseracing upsets this past Saturday. You always upset the competition when you raced. I loved it. Have a great day, love you.
Debbie
hi Z! what a gorgeous photo!! sooo good to hear from you and thank you for teaching us more about the horseracing biz:-) love you beautiful girl xoxoxo
Sue M
Great picture Zenyatta, thanks for sharing. And also for the information on Stakes races. I’ve been following the Derby Trail this year and it sure is wide open right now!
Sue Fredrick
Hi Zee, so glad to hear from you again. The pic is fabulous and the racing info very interesting, we are learning so much from you and your team. I am anxious to hear of your impending visit to Mr. B, hope it will be soon.
@Peggy, sorry I didn’t respond to your last post but I was hoping to answer on the latest one so you would see it. Yes I am very excited to be going to Keeneland on Thursday, I am planning a visit to “Old Friends” also and will make a donation to them in the name of Zenyatta and A P Indy. I can think of no better way to express my luv for these horses. We are also going to the Thoroughbred Training Center to see how they break and train the new kids. See you soon Zee, I’ll wave to you from the road. Luv and kisses on your nose
Sheri
Wow thats cool! Thank you for teaching us! I love learning new and interesting things in your diary!! Its great! Love you Zenny and good luck to everyone in the contest!!! :D
Susan
That photo is amazing Zenny and I do love all the information you provided me to learn more about racing!
Fran
Hi Z! It is a beautiful day here. Wow, it is very interesting about the nominations for the races and the special invitations. Very complicated, and a very good thing that Dottie and John took care of all of that for you. You are such a lucky girl. Have a wonderful day Z xxoo!
KATHARINE NIEMAN
I own 3 horses and have trailered them. How do they prepare you for a plane trip? I have no idea how a horse travels by plane? I bet you fly FIRST CLASS!! You’re the best. Hope you answer my questions and let us know how you travel. Thank you :)
Kathy
Wow! What an amazing picture!! I usually don’t post because there have been so many before me, how lucky am I today!! Zenny I hope you and yours are all doing well. I miss you racing but hope to hear you will be in foal soon. I haven’t missed your having been bred again have I? Would love to be able to see you in person, please let us know as soon as that is possible!
Sarah Powell
Really an incredible photo – never seen anything like it! SO glad to see a post today – needed it! It’s hard to explain how much we look forward to hearing about what’s going on with Zen. We’re all on pins and needles waiting to hear if she’s visited B again. Loved all the info. I learn something with almost every post but this was very interesting – there is surely a lot to keep up with if you are in the business. Looking forward to the results of the drawing – so exciting! (thanks Dottie)
Stella
Dearest Z,
The pic Ann took is a Wow moment, just like it was a WOW moment every time you crossed the finish line! :)
I did watch most of the stake races this past weekend—as the run for the roses approaches, it’s all getting so exciting!
Hope the weather is beautiful at Lane’s End and you and your gal pals are getting some nice grass now. Have a great Tuesday, Z, and let us know when you get the itch to see Bernie again!
Love and lots of hugs,
Stel