Good Morning,
I hope you had a very nice weekend. Our weather is still ‘nice’ here in Kentucky and I am able to enjoy my time outside with my paddock friends each day. Well, I wanted to tell you about some of my other friends…back in California. This morning, Dottie was going over the update on how the “ZENYATTA LOUNGE for Women” is doing at Santa Anita. We wanted to share the progress with you.
Firstly, A BIG THANK YOU to all of the people who brought products and items to donate to the Lounge on Secretariat Award Day! These items are greatly appreciated…and the women are very thankful for your thoughtfulness.
Secondly, we are getting several different types of classes organized to help the ladies with various academic skills. Thus, as you can see in the photo above, we all have so many different things to learn in life. For us to do our best, we need to have people around us who care…and want to help us learn. In this photo, I am ‘schooling at the starting gate’. Because I was a BIG GIRL…the starting gate took quite some time for me to feel comfortable in it. I needed to learn these lessons and fortunately “the people around me took the time and patience to teach me the skills I needed to succeed.”
With the Lounge, we are trying to do the same thing….HELP PEOPLE TO LEARN things which will help to make their lives easier. We are now offering educational classes for the ladies. Sister Soledad is teaching the English Classes. We have 2 different levels offered: beginning English and then an intermediate type class. We also have an availability for some 1-1 in this area. Additionally, the Rosetta Stone Program is offered on the Lounge computer for extra practice. We are also fortunate to have Al, who does the computer tech work for Santa Anita, volunteer his time to teach COMPUTER SKILLS to the ladies. He comes out every 2 weeks and teaches a lesson….and then gives ‘homework’ and ‘follow-up’ activities for them to work on until the next lesson.
It is so special when people CARE and WANT TO HELP OTHERS. As I was fortunate to have people around we who worked to help me achieve….it is so gratifying to see others extend this helping hand. We are so fortunate!
The ZENYATTA LOUNGE also offers fun activities like BINGO (where we have pizza and sodas in addition to playing the games). The Ladies had a Valentine Exchange Get-together, and then there is the Once-A-Month…GIRLS NIGHT OUT to a restaurant. Here we celebrate the birthdays for the ladies for that month. Each birthday ‘girl’ is given a FACIAL as her gift!
Things are really moving along beautifully with the LOUNGE. It is so special to hear that these LADIES are really getting involved in LEARNING and TAKING SUCH AN INTEREST in doing all of these wonderful activities. Also, it is great to note, that they are sharing these activities with their friends….and HAVING FUN!
I am so PROUD of everyone who is helping, volunteering their time….and participating! I’d personally like to THANK EVERYONE who is striving to make the ZENYATTA LOUNGE for WOMEN a SUCCESS!
With Love,
Hugs to All~
Z
Linda Henderson
Thanks for sharing the starting gate picture and story. Too sweet! The Zenyatta Lounge sounds like a wonderful place. Would love to help.
Katie M.
Just think, today Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta probably came within a mile of each other for the first time ever. Would have been so cute if they got a picture, but makes sense not to introduce the stress on top of breeding day… perhaps one day… til then I must say it is fun to think about. That and thinking that RA and Z’s baby’s (God willing) could be racing against each other in 2-3 years… *grins*
J Smith
Love Dani’s idea of us all calling a local womens shelter and collecting things that the shelter needs. Costs nothing but a couple of hours and a little gas. Spread that Zenyatta love around. A little of the Ladies Lounge spirit in your own community. I look fwd to reading how you Zenyatterized your community.
Dottie Combest
Dear Z, I would have loved to see your portrait in a “halter” like the Secretariat portrait, when you received the Vox Populi Award ~ the shadow roll and D-bit are nice but you look much prettier in your Zenyatta halter ~ the shadow roll hides your beautiful face and the D-bit keeps your mouth from being relaxed ~ you have one of the prettiest white markings of a blaze that makes you very recognizable ~ a very personal feature ~ shame to hide it behind your racing equipment !!! We will love you always and forever……… Amen
p.s. Hope your foal doesn’t race as a two year old ~ I love when owners wait until three and a half ~ that why they are fully developed ~ just like you were and look how WELL you turned out !!!
Dawn Conrad
Dearest, Zenyatta. Loved the post! How special of you and Team Z to help make such a difference in these deserving women’s lives. Thank you for sharing Dottie!! I am so excited for the ladies to be able to participate in such great activities, have fun and know that people really do care. Their involvement is fantastic. It is wonderful to know the volunteers are giving of their time and patience to teach the ladies skills which will make their lives easier and more successful, just as John did for you, Zenny. Expanding our minds opens up any number of possibilities and often enables us to change our viewpoint of the world around us. Hopefully we never stop learning and growing throughout our lives. So happy to hear about Rachel and Curlin today, Zenny. I pray your breeding goes just as smoothly. I’m sure all the great individuals at Lane’s End will take care of you, as always. I actually did get to see Rachel in person in one of her last victories at Churchill Downs, she was beautiful. I followed her career and have checked on her periodically since her retirement. Not much news, but I really enjoyed the pictures they released recently of her at Stonestreet. She looked like she was enjoying time in her paddock, just like you. Guess I better be signing off for the evening. Sweet dreams, love. Hugs and kisses.
@Abigail in Montreal – As one who loves history, including that of the great thoroughbred, I enjoy “the Vault” and your beautiful writing. Thank you.
@Lori – YOU CAN DO IT!
@Cathy P – Happy Birthday!!
@Karen Mitchell – So glad my words helped in some small way. Your’s to me certainly are wonderful. Thank you!
@Sherry Drish – Hope tomorrow is better:)
@Sharie Voltz – I will sure let you know when I hear something. Thanks for support!!
@Dani – Love the idea.
judy berube
Dear Z,
So many great things are happening because of you and your wonderful Team. You are all so caring and special. Love to all of you. Judy and Russ
Diane Martin
Wow! What a heartwarming experience to be able to help other people like this. Sounds like the ladies will be learning lots of new and fun things. What a treat to get a facial on your birthday. I sure bet each looks forward to their turn when its their birthday. Thank you for sharing this great experience for these ladies.
Christine Coleman
Hi Zenny! Please share more of your “Baby” pictures with us! And, ANYTHING related to your life as a racehorse. After you learned the ropes in the gate, did you stand alert and ready for the gate to open? Thank you so much for these insights into your personality! We love you so much Zenyatta! Stay healthy and happy! (Thank you for all your hard work Dottie!)
Nancy
Your legacy will live on through this wonderful lounge. This is another symbol of the Zenyatta team’s caring generosity.
Mary Jane
Wonderful pic of young Z learning to get off to a good start. Boy did she! And then she kept going, and going, and going. Z you and your team continue to inspire with the many ways you give back to others. Love it. Love you. Love Team Zenyatta!
Stella Bagwell
Dearest Queen,
We all need lessons–especially in the loving and giving department. Thank you, dear girl, for reminding us what is most important in life. Your generous heart will be remembered just as much as your prowess on the race track!
Hope your day is filled with joy and sunshine.
Kisses and hugs to you,
Stel
Stella Bagwell
Dearest Z,
I forgot to mention how adorable you look in the starting gate. :) I’d love to see more photos of you in your younger days—especially as a yearling!
Love,
Stella
Evy
Good to hear the Zenyatta Lounge is offering skills as well as respite for the ladies of Santa Anita. Excellent job, Zenyatta and team!!!!
darlene
Hi Love to hear from you every day, I hope to see you this summer when I visit Ky. Be happy Z love ya
Yvonne and Maurice Kirby
Hi Zenyatta. What a great picture of you training in the starting gate. You are so aware of everything around you. You are awesome. The Zenyatta Lounge is a wonderful tribute to you and your team’s generosity. What a wonderful program which I hope will be duplicated throughout the country. It is very much needed. Love you big Zenyatta. Any news on when you will have your special date with Bernardini? It should be coming up very soon. We are so excited and can’t wait to hear when that will be and your feelings about your first meeting with the handsome fella. Love you always, you Angel in Disguise.
ENSIGN
@ Peggy
.
Chapel of Dreams is still living as a pensioner at Three Chimneys Farm :-)
Joan Walls
Hi Z! It is so inspiring to see all of the things that you are doing for the ladies! You are such a grand LADY! Your accomplishments help to pave the way for those who want to be educated! Thank you and your team for the work that they do to accomplish this undertaking.
love and Hugs, Joan
Celeste
We are so fortunate that John Shirreffs had the foresight and inclination to take these wonderful photos of Zenyatta’s early training to share with her admirers down the road! I love this picture of gate schooling – early learning experiences. John’s patience and dedication played such a large part in the success of our Queen. Thank you for sharing the news about all the good things going on at the Zenyatta Lounge – it’s beautiful!
Dani
Hey Z! Love the photo of you and your gate mate. You two look so cute sizing up the situation at hand.
.
@ Kathryn Cogswell, thanks for the link in the last Diary post about saving the wild horses. If anyone missed it (the post is near the bottom of the page) please go back and have a look. In just a few short minutes your voice can be heard in Congress on how to make an impact on saving wild horses and burros.
Kathryn, I also want to thank you for the link in this Diary post about Seabiscuit quotes. They ring so true and you really feel their meaning and their sentiment. It was a wonderful movie, I’m sure most people here have seen it. But if you’ve never read the book, it is a bone fide must. It is the first book having to do with racing I had ever read. And I put off buying it for the longest time (it was before I became interested in racing) because I didn’t think I would like a nonfiction book about racing. But it was on the Time’s best seller’s list so long I gave in. Now I think it is one of the best books of any genre I have ever read. Just brilliantly writtten by Laura Hillenbrand and with great sentiment for the times and for the people who were part of Seabiscuit’s life. I swear the racing parts, the way she describes the races, I felt like I could acutally hear the thundering pounding of the horses’ hooves on the dirt. And the story between ‘the Biscuit’ and his jockey Red Pollard is just so lovingly heartwarming. I could go on forever talking about the book. So just go buy it and see for yourselves. :)
Savvy
Wish we could have seen you race Secretariat. Now that would have been some contest. Enjoy that Bluegrass, Zenyatta…you deserve the best.
Shannon From Cool
Way to go!
Ed
Zenyatta you would make a great movie star. Maybe Dottie can persuade Disney to put you on the big screen for a “Girl Power” movie.
Annie
Wishing you a long, happy retirement in Kentucky. We miss you. Hopefully one of your foals will become a thoroughbred that is as exciting to watch race as you were. Stay loving and whimsical, Zenyatta.
catherine tyerman
You and your team are the very perfect example of “pay it forward” Love these posts so much,and thank you for helping others Team Z. Makes me want to be a better person too. Have fun with that hunky Bernardini Zen! After your romance we will all be counting down the days till next spring! Love you so much big girl
Dani
Backside 55 has posted a great advert from Darley for Bernardini on YouTube:
http://www.facebook.com/Backside55
.
He’s a catch Zenny.
Mary
Dearest Sweet Zenyatta
Your message of love is soooo special. Having a teacher, a mentor, a caring friend in our lives is soooo necessary.
I myself have been so BLESSED with loving people. I am a servant for JESUS and I have had some spirit filled people put in my life by God, that I may know Him and His will.
You are so precious to share such a beautiful message.
I LOVE YOUR PICTURE.
ZENYATTA I LOVE YOU. AND THANK YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Melissa
Kudos again to team Z for their actions with the backstretch ladies. Great to see Team Z is so giving of their time and moeny.
Jean Moore
Beautiful Zenyatta, At 2 years old, you already had that presence that commands attention. Just gorgeous. How dear to see you looking at Hootie (I assume)as if to say, am I doing OK? The best learning from the best and boy, did you learn well precious girl. Imagine years from now when the Zenyatta Lounge fills with ladies enjoying their gift from you and the room will still echo with your name. You’re an angel sent to us for reasons that continue to unfold. Tell Dottie and John how much we appreciate their continued devotion to your public, you are addictive. Hugs and Kisses to You.
Lisa g
Ms Zenyatta, your photo is adorable, I wish I could have been hangin out and see you learn all these things.
The Lounge, another wonder from your ‘Big Heart’, you will be immortalized there.
I love you Queen….Lisa g
@Shari: I sometimes think that Ruffin is Zenyatta’s guardian angel.
Cynthia A. Holt
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see havens such as the Zenyatta Lounge spreading to backsides all over the country, like MacDonalds franchises? They would REALLY be heart-healthy places! Bless Zenyatta and her connections for all that they have done and continue to do to help others.