Good Morning Everyone!
I am so excited! My dear friend and veterinarian while I was at Barn 55, Dr. Dawn Hunkin, helped us in the ELITE EIGHT portion of our contest. She has always been such an important part of My Team. Dawn and I know each other very well. I also know her 2 children, Jack and Emma. As a matter of fact, and this is TOO CUTE, I was at Barn 55 for quite a long time….and while there, I was able to experience both her pregnancies with her! Such fun!
Here are the names of the ELITE EIGHT contestants Dawn selected:
1. Valerie Franklin…………….Davison, MI
2. Georgia Harper…………….Bellevue, WA
3. Dawn Conrad……………….Cedaredge, CO
4. Louann Cingel………………Union, MO
5. Vicki Vinson…………………Apple Valley, CA
6. Thomas Ronholm…………..Rochester, NY
7. Heidi Kruckenberg…………Vallejo, CA
8. Ann Ransone………………..Walkerton, VA
CONGRATULATIONS to these 8 people who will be moving to the FINAL 4! This is truly getting very exciting!
On another note, thank you for the comments about some of MY JOHN’S other Mobile Me links showing up in a prior Diary. The photos of Santa Anita are lovely. The racing pictures are great…and the holiday photos with John and Dottie’s family (and the adorable Sophie Shirreffs in her Christmas outfit) are fun! However, thank you for letting us know that this link was there. It was to be eliminated prior to the video being put up on my web-page. So sorry!
We have let our tech people know to close this. (I guess you are really getting to know John and Dottie’s family life very well. Blush, Blush!) Again, thank you for letting us know!
We will draw the FINAL 4 next week! Dottie has been working with the tech people to get the VOTING procedures organized so all of you are able to participate in the selection of our ZENYATTA BRONZE CONTEST WINNER!
Enjoy the Arkansas Derby and the Blue Grass Stakes today! It is another fun weekend of RACING…plus, the NBA is starting the early rounds of their play-off games! Oh, how I do LOVE SPORTS!
With love,
Hugs to All~(Happy Birthday, Lara!)
Z
Dawn Conrad
@TOO ALL OF YOU LIVING IN THE AREAS HIT BY THE RECENT TORNADOS, MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO YOU!!
@Cheryl Y and Judy Berube – I too read the story about the terrible van fire. Along with you, my thoughts go out to the connections. It was so very sad.
Dawn Conrad
@Shari – Hello there my friend, looks like we are both posting. So happy you got to run today. I will sure be praying that you and your dad get to make the trip to Kentucky together. Have a great week at school.
Christine in VA
Zen
Is there any other video of you on the air flight I can not play the one that was on here.
Suan
Gret Day at Santa Anita…El Vino was terrific .
Dottie says you worked with him..so cool
She also mentioned they’ll keep your breeding situation private until events unfold. I understand and just hope there will be a cute filly or colt by your side next spring
Ohhh. It looked cold at Keeneland on Saturday but expect your nice and warm at Lanes End
Congratulations to the newest elite 8
Love you Z
Cindy from LA
@Laura J
Thanks for the update and reassurance RA is doing
Well. She is such a beautiful and talented mare. I was
Just reading about Personal Ensign and what a successful
Racehorse she was as well a broodmare success. Good Luck
In your new career Zenny !!!!!
Dani
By the way, Dottie was interviewed after El Vino’s race (and she looked cute as ever). But she was asked about Zenyatta’s being rebred and she said that they were going to give Zenyatta her privacy this time and that the farm would let them know when the time was right.
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@J Smith – laughter is the best medicine and Zenny and Mario’s photo is proof of that. Thanks for the link. Read some very sad news yesterday that brought a flood of tears, still does today and still haunts me tonight. That photo definitely helped ease the pain.
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Abigail – I ran two websites for five years and I know I would have been devastated had they been hacked into. I’m so glad you were able to salvage all the treasures you had written for us. I hope you are able to find a way to raise funds for horse charities. I know it is important to you. I wish I had an answer for you other than the usual way of making kind requests for people to donate to various rescue and retirement foundations. I’ll certainly keep my eyes open for anything that might work for you.
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Let me add my congratulations to the Elite Eight. Next is the Final Four – has such a great ring to it doesn’t it? I bet the eight of you have butterflies in your stomachs about now. So close. Good luck to you all. Speaking of the Elite Eight, Trina – thanks for the link to the interview with Dawn Hunkin. I hadn’t seen it before. Always wonderful to hear someone who knew Zenyatta well, talking about her.
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Zenyatta – thinking of you as always. Hope you had the same great weather we had up here in the Washington DC area. I was out walking with friends and I suddenly pictured you galloping around your paddock with your friends – sunny blue skies and slight breeze. How happy that must make you. Thinking about you being a happy horse makes me happy.
Cindy from LA
@Susan
So glad everything is hush hush about Zenny’s
Rebreeding. Less pressure to deal with for all.
Everything will work out in God’s way for The Queen.
Sweet Dreams Zenny!!!!!
Quarterhossgal
Hi Zenny….good Sunday to you big girl!
On the chance to vote for the final four, perhaps their post cards could be printed without their names, just 1,2,3,4 and we would just vote for the one that touched our hearts the most! Just a thought. On Zenny returning to racing that is the choice of the Moss family and as far as I am concerned they have done everything with Queen Z’s best interest in mind. We are all just lucky to be able to hear about Z and her new life.
Cindy from LA
@Laura J
Bob Baffert is going to be on HRTV tonight
8:30 PM on the Triple Crown show they do. He
Is expected to talk about The Factor and displaced
Palete. Hope all will go well for this talented colt.
If not the Derby; the Breeders Cup !!!!!
Cindy from LA
@quartehossgal
I like your idea about voting. Takes the popularity
Contest out of it and let’s us vote on the words
That are written. Hope Dottie thinks about this idea.
Linda in NJ
Hi Zenny: Happy Sunday. I hope you enjoyed brunch with your best barn friends today. I heard the south got hit really hard with heavy storms. I hope you are okay.
@Maria K. I watched the Arkansas Derby, too and agree with you, this year’s Kentucky Derby contestants seem to be all over the page. I didn’t see the interview with Bob Baffert, but I hope The Factor is going to be okay. Even the Blue Grass Stakes was off with Santiva. In fact, I thought Mike Smith was Santiva’s jockey. Even that has changed.
The Kennedys in San Diego
Congratulations, El Vino, on your win today. Congrats also to John Shirreffs and the Mosses. We were there for Closing Day at Santa Anita. El Vino won while encountering tougher rivals and switching to turf. He was described in the program as “a sparring partner for the great Zenyatta …”
Linda in NJ
@Quarterhossgal: I like your idea with regards to the voting process. You know, some of us may purchase a Zenyatta bronze. But whoever wins this contest will receive this Zenyatta sculpture, which comes from Mr. & Mrs. Moss and Team Z. That alone is extremely special. And this particular statue also represents Zenyatta’s 19 undefeated races. It really doesn’t get much better than this. So I really HOPE the winner will take receiving this particular Zenyatta Bronze to HEART. It’s that special!
Sunny Boyd
Good evening Zenyatta,
hope your day went swell, and you’re all tucked in for the night, may be crunching on a handful of mints :) :) :)
On the idea of changing the rules with voting at this state of the contest is un- acceptable. The rule up to this point was the sent cards were picked by participating staff at the Sheriffs. And it’ll have to go on this way, otherwise the contest is void or it should be, totally uncool idea.
Well, Zetty, hope Mr.Sandman brings you a dream of all your fav things. Have a restful night. :) :) :)
Margaret
TeresaE:
Interesting that you say your a farm owner in Lexington and yet you don’t know why Vertigneaux was not bred back to Street Cry…
Interesting that you mention Z’s dancing. Have you not considered that is her way of managing the stress? She dances to help get herself ready to race and to psyche out the competition. Along the way she realized that fans love her dancing and that became its own reward.
Interesting that you mention that you think she should go on tour. You don’t stress a pregnant mare with unnecessary trailering. And you should well know this.
I too have some ideas of why she slipped her foal. I’ve been doing A LOT of reading on breeding management this week. I’ve read two of Dr. Christine Schweizer’s books on breeding management and Understanding the Broodmare. They are written in fairly to easy to read (for the non horse owner that is interested)language.
Please accept the fact that this time Z is retired. No matter how much you want her to return the track it isn’t gonna happen. She has nothing to prove to anyone. Avenging her loss in the BC is a human response. Really what would be the point? She could be fatally injured training. Is it worth it? NO WAY! You should know and understand this.
Z is valuable. Not just financially but also to her many fans. Her bloodlines are so important that many of us won’t be alive to appreciate what she’s gonna do to help the thoroughbred down the road. It will take that long and many of us are older…
So is it worth trailering her to different tracks just to show her off? Again I have to say No. There are major biological factors involved here.
Margaret
SunnyB:
My understanding is that WE would do the voting. But then since I’m out of the running my interest in how the winner is determined has gone downhill in a hurry.
By the way who is Zetty?????
Valarie Franklin
@Linda – Thank you for your support!
@Elizabeth – I really don’t know, I really hope they find a way to make things fair, but I also hope no one throws a fit with whatever way they decide to conduct things
@DJ – thanks for the link to the video!!
@Abigail – I’m now following the Vault, it’s AMAZING!
@Dawn Conrad – thank you sweetie, you are so kind. This has all been SO exciting and fun! Good luck to you!
If anyone has already said this forgive me, but I also just had to say (and I think many of you will agree) that we are very luck to have the kind of “access” to Zenyatta that we have. Updates on her almost every day! That’s unheard of! And to my understanding it is not normal to get to visit breeding mares at big farms like Lane’s End. It breaks my heart that I may never meet her in person but at least we know that she won’t disappear into oblivion like so many racehorses seem to. I hope that makes sense. We love you Zenny and your family!
Michelle
I agree with the idea of posting the contest cards without the names for voting purposes. That way we will vote based on how the words touch us which was the intent of the contest I think.
I watched racing all weekend and sure do miss you Zenyatta. I don’t think I will ever get as excited about another horse as I did about you. You are my horse of a lifetime and I am so glad that I got to see you at Oaklawn and Churchill.
Trina Nagele
@Sunny Boyd–The Final Four will be selected by drawing from the Elite Eight, then we will all get to read the entries and vote for the one we like best–maybe this will be done without identifying whose is whose, as some have suggested. What could be fairer? At any rate, Team Z is organizing and financially backing this contest that was open to all for the price of a postage stamp. Any way they want to do it is fine with me, and I find it very exciting even though I’m not in the running. I think it makes a great deal more work for Team Z to tally votes, and it is another expression of their willingness to go the extra mile to include fans in Z’s life and try to please them. I for one am grateful.
Cindy from LA
@Laura J
Bob Baffert just gave highlights on The Factor.
He has displaced in the past and plan of holding
Him back as non leader did nor work as when Martine
Did that he displaced at the 3/4 pole. Bob has no plans
For him now other than ship and see what happens at
Louisville. He may be more of a sprinter. To go wire
To wire in Derby in fast fractions may not be possible or
Be the most safe trip for The Factor. Had he been in front
He might have been forced into fractions that were
Unsafe and caused injury. This Derby is going to
Be really something.
Amanda Gilliland
My Sweet Lady Zenyatta, I hope you enjoyed Palm Sunday. Did you look out your stall window and see that big beautiful full moon? I hope so. It’s so wonderous to see after the storms we have had here. Two weeks ago I had an Uncle to pass and I have another family member with colon ca and had to have 2 surgeries in 4 days, this past week because an error in the 1st surgery. He’s doing a little better. Because of days like these, Dottie, I can’t say “Thank You” enough for providing this wonderful site to read about Zenyatta being happy & healthy in her well deserved retirement at Land’s end and others’ comments about that and the knowledge shared about racing. I am so happy to read in the comments that Dottie said they are keeping your date with Bernadini private.
@Trina Nagele- I will tell my Uncle Park what you said! I appreciate your kind words.
@Dawn Conard-Thanks for your kind words and your wonderful posts I enjoy so much.
@Cindy from LA-Thanks for your kind words.
@Abigail from Montreal-I am so sorry about The Vault being hacked. I love the article on Giacomo. I love reading TB history.
Abigail, you have a wonderful quote from Dottie about how The Mosses feel about their horses. It is found in your article on Giacomo from your site The Vault. I wish all owners could learn from them.
“With the Mosses every decision made from morning until night is about what’s best for the horse. It’s a beautiful philosophy. Teaching is all about individual differences. You find that one thing that can help a child find a better life. You turn one key and that child’s life can change , and it’s the same with horses.” (Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, a former teacher and the Mosses racing manager, reflecting on Giacomo’s Derby win, 2005)
Zenyatta, Sending Hugs & Kisses From Alabama With love, Amanda G.
Jackie
Good Evening Queen “Z” hope you and your friends are safe from the nasty weather! Zenny I am sure you are proud of your El Vino. It was quite a race! Congrats to John and the Mosses!
Although it was a beautiful day at Santa Anita the races are just not the same without you there!
Congratulations to the Elite 8 I am sure the lucky winner will be thrilled to win the Zenyatta Bronze.
Zenny stay safe.
Hugs and Kisses
Jackie
Amanda Gilliland
@Margaret- THANK YOU, WELL SAID!! There are over 12 people I would like to tell THANK YOU for explaining why Zenyatta doesn’t have to prove anything or work in any area to please anyone. Yes, I know I’m not the only one that loves Zenyatta, the whole world does, but I truly appreciate The Mosses for doing what a lot of owners probably couldn’t do. To keep her healthy instead of running her to death. The put her interest 1st and not the fans who wanted more. Let her retire in peace and live a full happy life.
Elizabeth
@Valerie: I do hope they find a fair way to finish this up. I never made any of the draws, but I know some people in my life who “lurk” (not to sound creepy or anything, LOL) on boards who are disinclined to comment much and just wondered how they would fair if it were to become a popularity contest.
Elizabeth
My thoughts and prayers go out to the owners and breeders and care givers of the five to six two-year-olds in training that died early yesterday due to, most likely, the carelessness of a passing smoker. I pray that you all will be comforted in your grief at this time of losing your young horses.
S (in san diego)
Congratulations to El Vino!! You had a great mentor <3, along with a dream team. It was an exciting last day at Santa Anita except for Tokubetsu. My heart goes out to his owners and connections. It was only his 4th race and he looked great pulling away from the others.
A 3-year-old son of Congaree —Fort Lauderdale, by Montbrook , Tokubetsu was making his fourth lifetime start. Owned by Peachtree Stable and trained by Bob Baffert, the colt had finished second in three maiden races, including two earlier in the meeting at Santa Anita.
With all the chatter about Z and wanting her to return to the track…Years from now (if I am still around in my mid 80's) I want to be able to read something similar to the article in Blood-Horse this week about Kazadancoa. She died at 33 and they said "When working with 'Kaz' everything was done on her terms" "For example, she never saw the need to have someone lead her out to her paddock in the mornings,so we complied by just opening her stall door and she would go unattended. She did consider it permissible for us to lead her in the afternoons however". Martin O'Dowd. I want to know Z had a life on her terms and I think right now…she is on that path, Thanks to great humans who love her.
Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/62543/jockey-garcia-thrown-from-mount#ixzz1JqbZCk8v
karen g
Hi, fan friends – maybe just a little bit too much thinking going on by some for Dottie, perhaps? She knows how she’ll handle it – doesn’t need all the extra input. Suggestions are fine, she may like a few, but it’s really up to her. So let her have her way. Zenny, I love you more and more!
Joan Dobbie
Dear Zenyatta,
I’m wondering… will you be bred again to Bernardini? Is everything alright in that department? Are you still enjoying your retirement? I send you so much love and thanks for existing.
Susan
@Karen G
I agree with you. Too many people are under the false impression they are speaking on the Mosses behalf. They have designated themselves as the official spokes person of this site and defender of the decisions made in Zenyatta’s life. How dare anyone have a different opinion. It is immediately challanged,right? I hope they continue to keep their decisions private.
karen g
@Susan – sadly, maybe some truth to that. But that’s another reason, too, that I love Zennyland, within reason, we all do express ourselves and what’s on our mind. Some are just way off base at times and do get carried away. I love this Zennyland and am thankful “they” include me too! But I would not be thinking for Dottie, nor anyone else when it comes to what’s best for our ‘heart’ – Zenny. We ALL love her too much!