Good Morning,
I must say this was such an exciting weekend of racing! So many of the graded stakes races we all watched were truly ‘thrillers’…with several of them requiring the aid of a photo finish camera to determine the winner.
My Barn 55 friend, Mr. Commons, lost by a ‘tiny’ nose in Del Mar’s Mile G2 Stakes. He ran an incredible race against older, very accomplished horses. Everyone at the barn really applauded him for his outstanding effort and accomplishment. I think Mr. C also felt rather proud of his race and the way he performed. When he returned to the barn after running, he was happy, playful, ready to graze and enjoy himself. He wanted lots of hugs, kisses, treats and attention! A high-hoof to you, MR. C. I’m wishing you all the best as your racing career continues to develop!
Yesterday, the Pacific Classic G1 at Del Mar was decided in a thrilling stretch run between Acclamation and Twirling Candy. (His sire, Candy Ride, won this race several years ago and stands here at Lane’s End Farm.) Acclamation held on to win in a wire to wire victory. Kudos to his connections and the ride by his jockey, Patrick Valenzuela. Patrick has always been known to be an incredible talent who can ration out speed on the lead with perfect timing. In this particular race, he was definitely at his best doing this!
The stakes races at Saratoga on Saturday were all quite interesting. Bernie’s son, STAY THIRSTY, won The Travers Stakes G1 in fine fashion. During the first part of the race, he positioned himself right off the leader, Shackleford. Then at the mile pole , he took the lead and went on to finish strongly for his victory. I know MY BERNIE is really proud of this guy for all of his achievements to date! Yeah, Stay Thirsty! Congratulations to all of the winners on Saturday. It was a great day of racing!
Throughout the weekend, though, we were all extremely concerned about the path and strength of Hurricane Irene. The scope of her presence and the intensity level of her travels were a constant source of consideration for all of us. On a horse racing level, Monmouth Park in New Jersey and Saratoga on Sunday in New York both closed. Then along the entire east coast, families were evacuated from their homes. Businesses were closed. People were asked to be safe, be careful, and stay in a protected place. Thus, as we are spending time reviewing all of the weekend’s activities, we must be thankful that the effects of Hurricane Irene were not worse. So many people had their lives change during ‘her’ travels. Let’s extend our thoughts and kindness to wish them well and keep their safety and welfare in our thoughts.
It is like so many things in life, when the review is in and people say it was ‘not as bad as it could have been’…this is certainly important. However, when YOUR LIFE has been directly damaged or changed by the incident…in this case…the hurricane, it is very painful. Blessings to all who have had their lives directly touched and influenced by Hurricane Irene! We are thinking of YOU and wishing you many blessings!
With Love,
Hugs to All~
Z
Jan
Zenyatta,
Yes, all the races were great. Mr. Commons looked good and ran good. Bernie can sure put out some winners. Very nice picture. I didn’t know you were a red head. ;)
Keep safe and healthy Big Mama. xoxo
nancy in nj
@lil from ky – thank you for your kind words. what a blessing it is to you, also, that olivia is safe and sound! i agree with you; i hope none of us ever has to experience this again.
@barbara wood – thank you. everyone is safe and sound. that is the most important thing!
Carole #42
Hi Zen..Great picture of you beautiful QUEEN. Thank you Dottie for always sharing the Queen with us. Love you Zen. XOXO
vicky o'connor
Hi Dottie: I don’t know if you read all these posts (I don’t) but I just want you to know how much what you are doing is appreciated. No doubt there are many more, like me, who never post, or read all the posts, but eagerly look for the Zenyatta update everyday. Thank you!
judy berube
Dear Z, Dottie and Everyone,
Z you look beautiful in today’s photo (The Look of the Eagle). Just got cable service back earlier this afternoon, so thanks for the report on Twirling Candy yesterday. Was rooting for him. Things here could have been so much worse. We were without power and cable yesterday, but have it back today and luckily only one tree that went down in our neighborhood landed lightly on our neighbor’s roof. (NOT extensive damage). My nephew has a long tree lined driveway to his home. Two trees fell across blocking passage. They were removed this morning. So aside from yard cleanup, everything is pretty much back to normal here. We were very lucky; not everyone was and my thoughts and prayers go out to them. Love you Z and love to all of you, Judy and Russ
Lobieb
Missed all the racing this weekend. No electricity, only one fallen tree that just landed in the field so yesterday afternoon while we had light had to start the clean up. Dag wanted to see all those races but we all came out of it ok. so that is the important thing. Miss you Ms. Z and glad to know that Irene did not affect you. Kiss Kiss
Margie
Hi, Sweet Zenny. I love this picture of you. Shows those fabulous, penetrating eyes that I was lucky to be eyeball to eyeball with – lol I’ve been out of the loop for a few weeks and have just finished catching up on all your diary entries. Wasn’t able to read all the Z’ers comments – would have taken a long, long time. There are so many more people on your site now, Z! I’m sure it was a happy discovery for them as this site offers so much for so many. I’ve probably missed tons of news from regular posters, but for now I’ll just say that I hope everyone is well and safe. Love you, Zenyatta. Belated birthday greetings to Ms. Dottie! Hi to TT, and prayers for all affected by H. Irene.
suew
Zenny, what a gorgeous picture of you …the eyes say it all and yours are warm, intelligent and full of mystery. Love this post…you always strike the right tone and cause us to remember what is really important in life. Thank you, Dottie!
Terry Crow
@Judy Berube-What a relief to see you posting again. @Sharon Call-Peter Graves is a very nice man. I sort of had him to myself as everyone was gathering around Jim. He said that his favorite actors on Mission:Impossible were Leonard Nimoy and Sam Elliott. I thin I must have forgotten a few lines from the last joke so here is a bonus–A middle-aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. During that experience she sees God and asks if this is it. God says no and explains that she has another 30 years to live. Upon her recovery she decides to just stay in the hospital and have a face lift,liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck. She even has someone come in and change her hair color. She figures that since she’s got another 30 years she might as well make the most of it. She walks out of the hospital after the last operation and is killed by an ambulance speeding by. She arrives in front of God and says “I thought you said I had another 30 years.” God replies “I didn’t recognize you.”
judy berube
Dear Barbara Wood and Ingrid Arnone:
Thanks for thinking of me. Missed you too. Hugs, J.B.
tony and sue
Wink, wink right back at you, Zenny! You have the kindest eyes…they reveal the depth of your spirit and radiate a beautiful calmness. Your words (thanks to Dottie) were perfect. Thank you!
judy berube
Dear Terry Crow:
Love today’s joke. Really missed not being able to post. Thank you so much. Hugs, J.B.
Sharon Call
@Judy Berube. So glad to know that you’re OK. I was thinking about you Saturday and Sunday when Irene hit Rhode Island.
Sharon Call
@Terry Crow. Subtitle for joke “Leave well enough alone”. Loved it!
judy berube
Dear Kimberly Potter:
Thanks for missing me. It’s good to be back posting. I missed all of you. Hugs, J.B.
Cynthia H.
@Kari: Great balls of fire! I hope I am not about to destroy your family joke, please forgive me. That scene where Scarlett turns-up at Ashley’s birthday party in all of her crimson naughtiness and Melanie is dressed like Mother Theresa on a night out? Well, I think Melanie referred to her dear friend as “Our darling Scarlett.” Now that I have probably caused another Civil War to erupt….
judy berube
Dear DJ:
Almost time for the Evening Prayer, but I just now got to read the Morning Prayer. Beautiful, thank you. Wishing you well. Hugs, J.B.
signofthetimes
Dear Zenny,
Love that beautiful photo of you. You definatley are thinking and watching us. It was such a great race weekend. Mr. Commons to lose by a nose to an experienced 4 year old like Caracaortado is awesome. Can’t wait to see his next race. He definately has the right distance. It is so interesting how trainers have to problem solve and figure out the young horses to make them happy with their racing surface, style and distance. An art that YOUR JOHN is definately good at along with keeping the snacks challenging and lots of good old fashion rest. You are such a lucky girl now a woman. Great effort on YOUR BERNIE’s son STAY THIRSTY– no more plain brown horse, a champion. Hope you had a great day munching the blue grass eating for two and of course your daily exercise to keep trim and fit for “foaling day”. XXXXXOOOOO
judy berube
Dear Barbara Grimaldi:
Good to see your post. Was worried about you. Hugs, J.B.
judy berube
Dear Sharon Call:
Thank you so much for thinking of us. We’re doing fine. Hugs, Judy and Russ
signofthetimes
@Judy B
How did you fair with the storm? Is Providence close to where you live??? Glad you are back. Hope not too much of a mess at home.
I have lived throught tooo many to count and Zenny’s word describe it all, a very painful experience that takes sooo very many months to recover from. It took my condo complex almost 3 years to recover from IKE. I think there is still one person 5 years latter with issues.
signofthetimes
@DJ
What a lovely morning prayer, I really needed it after watching all of IRENE’s “anticks” on Fox news. What an ordeal for all. Hope all Eastcoast Z fans are alright.
Barbara Grimaldi
Judy, it is so good to have you back! I tried phoning you many times–just busy signal. Everyone here missed you and was worried about you!!! Terry–love the joke! Still think the original THING is one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen–the fingernail scene–eeek!!! LauraJ–do you teach equine biology? Amazing knowledge of horses–you taught me again today–nicking!!! Brenda S–I think that comes from the Old Testament–perhaps DJ could help on this? Nancy in NJ–glad you are safe! Eveline–glad your power is back on! I’ve never seen a tropical storm hurt Vermont and Canada before!!! Incredible.
Sharon Call
@All who made it through Irene. I’m not very good at remembering all of the names of people in the path of Irene, but I’m so glad that all of you made it through OK.
signofthetimes
@ Terry Crow
Love the joke, very poignant. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, just take what you get and be happy.
Tatia
You are such a thoughtful gal Z. I was worried about all my friends and family on the E. Coast & all the horses and their people, too. I’m glad MTH and SAR closed. Better to be safe! There’s always another day for racing…
The racing this weekend was mighty fine. I think Uncle Mo did a darn fine job considering his injury and layoff. Of course I was rooting for Thirsty and Mr. C too.
Sharon Call
@Cynthia H and Kari Bussell. Ah, Scarlett and her eyebrow!! Worth a thousand words.
Sharon Call
@Tatia. Mo did an excellent job especially considering that he threw his right hind shoe. If he hadn’t lost that shoe, I think that race would have been his.
signofthetimes
@ Judy B
Reading from the bottom up and just saw your summary. So glad you recovered quickly at least as quick as possible. I had to wait for power for 3 days and was so very lucky. Some people I worked with and knew did not get power for 8-12 weeks after IKE. I had a friend who worked for an oil company, they actually gave their employees generators and all the gas they needed to run them until the power came on. The power of $$$$$. All we got at my work was a few cases of water, better than to go thirsty.
signofthetimes
Dear Zenny,
P Val rode Acclimation so very perfectly is he truley a talent, especially with horses at the front, conserved just enough to win, sooo very glad he did not use the whip. His owner’s were so very proud of their horse and proud that he did not need the whip. Acclimation definately give 110 percent all the time and does not need a whip. My TB did not like the whip, when he was younger 5-6 years old, if anyone used the whip it was continuous bucking hard and strong all the way across the ring and not many stayed on for that. All one had to do was show him the whip, it was sooo very funny. Staring out a ride without it he thought he could get away with things, he never figured out that when he acted a little slow that he whip would come out and be waived in his eye and he definately saw it. Such a good jockey trick and it definatley does work.