Zenyatta

Queen of Racing

Zenyatta News

Letter to Zenyatta’s Fans

We all appreciate very much what Dottie has created, bringing the voice of Zenyatta to her multitude of fans. We can also appreciate just how much work went into completing over a year’s worth of daily dairy entries, describing from November 1, 2010 the transition of a tremendous race horse to becoming a broodmare and, today, a successful one with a healthy colt by her side. For all of this we are grateful. Grateful, as always, for being blessed with owning this great mare since she was a yearling. Grateful for the treatment and training she received form John Shirreffs, Mike Smith and the great people at Barn 55. Grateful for all the terrific people at Lane’s End Farm, her current care-takers, doing what they do everyday for Zenyatta.

And certainly grateful to Dottie, our racing manager, who emerged to describe Zenyatta’s thoughts as if she could write them herself.

Well done Zenyatta!

And well done, Dottie!

With this website, we will do our best to continue to inform you of what’s happening in Zenyatta and her colt’s lives. Stories of interest will be published periodically with photos and news flashes as the events dictate. It probably won’t make up for the daily Diary that told her story so very well, but in the meantime, we hope you will continue to enjoy Zenyatta.com. We appreciate how much this community means to Zenyatta’s fans just as we appreciate how much all of you mean to her.

With gratitude,
Ann & Jerry Moss
 
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Hello everyone!

We are constantly hard at work behind the scenes to make sure this website is running smoothly. We will continue to add photos, videos, and new features. Currently in the works is a forum where you can all share stories, memories, horse racing news, and all things Zenyatta. Check back very soon for updates!

Zenyatta’s Web Team

Reader Interactions

356 Comments

  1. / Reply

    Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Moss for the updates we will be receiving to keep us informed on how Zenyatta is doing and also for our Zenyatta fix. Again, your kindness knows no boundries. I really appreicate all you have done and continue to do for her fans. You are such wonderful people. Zenyatta is so lucky to have you as owners.

  2. / Reply

    Mr and Mrs. Moss… I appreciate the letter for US Fans but, there still hasn’t been an explanation for this abrupt departure? I asked in the previous Diary if Dottie and John were ok? This is so not the style of the Zenyatta Team (Ca/KY).
    I know that you Own Zenny and are responsible for her and her foals but, you have shared her so generously with all of the Fans and Legions on FB etc…, no wonder, we’re all heart broken and concerned!! Please, let us know “Why, this change and why now?”
    I’m sure that I am not alone in asking: “What happened?!”

    Cynthia, 12th heart…… ( I don’t have the symbols, err, hearts)

    I really loved your posts on the last Diary post. Especially, when you posted “Kari’s” words and thoughts! I know that Kari is playing with the new lil Prince (helping him find his long legs)!! She’s his angel! What a team, Kari (auntie) John Henry (Uncle)! Such Royalty!!

    For those that have talked about the article on drf.com., I’ve gone there several times and did not see it. If someone can re-post it for me, I’d appreciate it. I don’t want to scan all the posts for the link.

    BTW.. Sierra, keep up the good work!! Such a talent.

    Calif dumplings… We will be there for the BC!! Even if we have to sleep in the truck! I don’t give a rat’s ummm…., “batoon” how we get there and where we sleep, we WILL BE THERE! I don’t have a “dumpling name tag” but, you can spot me wearing, my Z hat, Jersey and zippy. Heck, I’ll make my own Dumpling name tag!

    Ok, I can tell that I’m “emotionally exhausted!” I’m babbling. I guess that comes with anxiety attacks?

    Now, Zenny, Prince and Dottie…. I hope all is well! btw.. it’s not only Zen that we care about, it’s the entire Z Team! Everyone involved with her, day in and day out. I love each and everyone of you and, I’m sure that I speak for many of the fans!!

    I hope to see something NEW soon. I’ll be checking in on here daily as, I normally do. Plus, FB, BH,drf,TT, ntra etc.. Love you big Mamma and the Prince!!

  3. / Reply

    Thank you, Dottie, for being the voice of Zenyatta. I guess it’s time the fantasy that I was “friends on Facebook” with a horse came to an end and I accept that she never was “our” Zenyatta, she is the Mosses’ Zenyatta. But it was fun while it lasted.

    I am saddened, as are all the above posters, that it came to such a sudden end the moment she crossed the finish line and presented the world with the foal. After building up the anticipation for over a year, we hoped to watch him grow up and hear from “Zenyatta” about the Prince playing with Tasty’s foal and learning who was fastest in their baby races in the pasture and it’s disappointing to have the door close right after it finally opened. I’d hoped for more than a peek. But Zenyatta is not my horse. My horse is named Dash and will have her eighth birthday in three days.

    I wish Zenyatta’s baby a wonderful life and a successful racing career or whatever he chooses to do with his life. I hope Zenyatta will continue to enjoy excellent health and happiness. I am glad the Mosses did the right things with her and allowed her to retire uninjured and happy. It was an example for the entire racing industry to see a horse treated with respect and kindness and not just as a tool to make money.

    Good luck to all of you.

  4. / Reply

    Thanks to all for sharing Z and her life with us…blessings to you all…so happy for Z and her new son…

  5. / Reply

    Excellent! This is great news, because it wasn’t clear if the Diary itself, and all the old Posts (all 457) might be taken down anytime soon. I always thought it was a bit crazy, or too much, for Dottie to have to write a new post every day (except weekends). That is just not necessary, for a successful Blog. But even periodic updates, to keep us in the loop a bit with Zenny, will be wonderful, if you can manage that. Thanks, Ann & Jerry and Team Z.

    • / Reply

      I also wondered if perhaps Dottie will enjoy not having to pretend she’s a horse, writing every day while thinking, “Now how would Zenyatta put it?” in expressions besides ‘Nicker’ and ‘Neigh’.

  6. / Reply

    Thanks so much Mr. and Mrs. Moss for “hearing” Z’s fans’ confusion and angst about losing contact with Zenyatta. As usual, you have handled our frustrations with class and dignity. Dottie deserves respect and appreciation for keeping up with this diary and all things Zenyatta. Great work and high hoofs for her devotion to us all! Being assured as fans that we will not lose touch with Z, her foal, and news regarding all things Team Z has helped tremendously. That is all a true fan could ever hope for. Zenyatta will remain a positive inspiration to us all and I do not ever want to lose that!

  7. / Reply

    A Poem for Zen/Dottie

    To the great Zenyatta
    And her dear Dot:
    You both clearly deserve
    Vacation
    A lot,
    Having served
    This sustaining libation
    To all of Zen Nation
    For more than a year
    And brought us many a smile.
    You’ve given
    Indication
    That the diary’s cessation
    Is just for a while,
    And thus
    Our hearts need not
    Feel so riven,
    Nor our minds
    Sink into depression,
    Though it’s my confession
    That reading those lines
    For the first time
    Almost felt
    To me
    Like being dealt
    A sentence of death,
    For if you us left,
    It’s true
    Our lives would be sorely bereft.
    I dare say
    Many
    My reaction
    Did share,
    For, dearest Zenny,
    We love you to distraction
    And get such satisfaction
    In gathering here
    Where we still for you cheer
    And long more to hear
    Of you and your little one
    And follow your new career
    As his mom.
    Now news does arrive
    From Jerry and Ann
    That comes as a balm
    To the soul of each fan.
    They will continue to strive
    To keep fans in touch
    With the mare all love so much.
    This website will be very alive
    With news of Z
    And her dear baby,
    And our community
    Will still thrive!
    Thank you sincerely,
    Dearest Dottie
    And all of Team Z,
    For what you’ve done
    To keep us close to the Great One
    And her young son!

    A lot,
    Having served
    This sustaining libation
    To Zen Nation
    For more than a year,
    And brought us many a smile.
    You’ve given
    Indication
    That the diary’s cessation
    Is just for a while,
    And thus
    Our hearts need not
    Feel so riven,
    Nor our minds
    Sink into depression,
    Though it’s my confession
    That reading those lines
    For the first time
    Almost felt
    To me
    Like being dealt
    A sentence of death,
    For if you us left,
    It’s true
    Our lives would be sorely bereft.
    I dare say
    Many
    My reaction
    Did share,
    For, dearest Zenny,
    We love you to distraction
    And get such satisfaction
    In gathering here
    Where we still for you cheer
    And long more to hear
    Of you and your little one
    And follow your new career
    As his mom.
    Now news does arrive
    From Jerry and Ann
    That comes as a balm
    To the soul of each fan.
    They will continue to strive
    To keep fans in touch
    With the mare all love so much.
    This website will be very alive
    With news of Z
    And her dear baby,
    And our community
    Will still thrive!
    Thank you sincerely,
    Dearest Dottie
    And all of Team Z,
    For what you’ve done
    To keep us close to the Great One
    And her young son!

  9. / Reply

    Dear Mosses and Dottie: I don’t have anything additional to say outside of what everyone else has said but I did want to be sure and extend my thanks and appreciation for all that has been done for us Zenyatta fans. None of it has ever been required but has been graciously offered. I will look forward to periodic updates, but again, please know that none of it is expected. You have already gone above and beyond in reaching out to us fans. It is time for Dottie to get to take a well-deserved break from the daily updates and for us fans to get used to an infrequent peek at Z’s life and that of her colt. I know there are a tremendous amount of expectations on the new colt and I hope race fans can appreciate him for himself and not get hopes too high. As we all know, each horse is different and even those with the best breeding may not turn out to be fantastic racers. I’m just glad he arrived safe and sound, as well as any other foals she may produce. Best wishes to the Mosses and Dottie and “thanks for the memories”! XO

  10. / Reply

    Thank you Team Zenyatta for your continued love and concern not only for the great mare and her foal but for us, her fans. This is unprecedented in racing and, well, pretty much all things in life; a public entity that truly loves and considers the fans. You have set the bar incredibly high and others in racing are now climbing to new heights in opening the stall doors, so to speak. Thank you for always putting the horses first. That to me matters more than anything.

    While we’ll all miss the daily diary, we will survive… I hope all of Zenyatta’s fans can muster some of her courage to go through everyday in a positive and loving way. I will look forward to hearing about Z and her foal in the future.

    Thank you so very much.

  11. / Reply

    Thank you so much for everything! We appreciate that you have shared Zenyatta with us and will continue to keep us updated on news about she and her little prince. She has touched my life in ways hard to explain and for you to let us love her too is awesome. Thanks again to ALL of you!
    May God Bless you!

  12. / Reply

    Ann and Jerry Moss…thank you for your letter. It means a lot to all of us.
    You can bet I’ll be checking back here often for news, pictures and anything else you choose to offer. You’ve already done a great deal for the fans.

    Dottie, thanks for being the pen and soul sister of the Great Zenyatta. There is no one like you.

    And Zenny…thanks for being YOU. You will foal some great ones but your unique
    personna is hard to duplicate.

    The forum should be interesting. I hope everyone takes an active part in it…I’ve learned a lot from all of you.

  13. / Reply

    Dear Ann and Jerry…thank you for your letter…it sure soothes a lot of hearts and makes us understand the depth of your feeling for all of us.

    Dottie…a HIGH HOOF for everything you have done to keep this place hopping!
    Love you bunches.

    And Zenny…enjoy your time with little Price but know we are always here waiting for the next photo…news link and all things Zenyatta.

    I can’t wiat to get the new forum active…it will be an interesting place to share info. and the continuing love we have for the Queen.

  15. / Reply

    Thank you to all involved! It has been such a great pleasure to read what has gone on daily with Team Z! Thank you Dottie for all of your hard work! All the best to you all!

  16. / Reply

    Dottie – Thanks so much for the wonderful adventure into Zenyatta’s transition into motherhood. And Thanks to the Moss’s for allowing us to know, watch, and learn about the full life circle of a great racing mare. I am glad that the public got to be on this ride, and for allowing the fans into Zenyatta’s next career. I do believe that the broodmares are really the horse industry, and all the public has seen is how the boys leave the tracks, get fat, and hopefully become great producing stallions. Then there are the horses that leave the track to God knows were – but that subject is slowing being addresses and is one for another place and time. At Zenny’s Keeneland retirement walk, I was the one that blurted out to Dottie ” Thanks for the blog” and she turned around towards me with the cutest smile, but could not make out that it was me, but that was heartfelt – THANKS FOR THE BLOG!

  17. / Reply

    A heartfelt thanks to Dottie for her posts as the “voice” of Queen Z. To keep up an almost daily blog is challenging enough but to add it for someone else is amazing. Your blogs will be missed. As a mom I can truly understand how posting would be difficult. I remember those days of being happy with a hot meal once a day.

    Again thanks to all on the team and for letting us into Zenyatta’s life.

    Lots of Love,
    Christine and her horse crazy girls

  18. / Reply

    Dear Ann and Jerry,
    WOW, did you ever think that your yearling horse could possibly be significant in the lives of so many people? Of course not, but it happened.
    So many tributes have been made to you and so much appreciation has been given you for sharing your great mare that I cannot more that what has already been said.
    I know this, I had no doubt whatsoever that we dumplings would not be left out of hearing about our beloved queen and prince and other news in the lives of Team Z.
    May God keep blessing you all.
    Love,
    Mary

  20. / Reply

    Thank you for letting us be a part of her life and now a part of her life as a Mom with a colt. I can’t imagine how time consuming this has been for Dottie. I agree a weekly update would be nice but Dottie wears many caps and has tons to do! Thank you Jerry and Ann for making her available to us, for educating those that are not part of the thoroughbred racing world. I work at a race track outside of St. Louis, MO (Fairmount Park) in Collinsville, IL. I am also on the Board of Directors of Renaissance Rescue, a thoroughbred rescue that was started in 2007 to keep racers from going to the killers. Our web page is renaissancerescue.com and we are on Facebook! Again, thank you for all you have done. Much love to the Queen and her Prince and her entire family!!

  21. / Reply

    Thank you, Dottie, for all your hard working helping Zenyatta write her diaries. And to the Mosses – thank you for continuing to share this lovely mare with us, her fans!

  24. / Reply

    To Dottie, so much has been said already but I must add my thank you and great appreciation for all the hard work you’ve done for all this time. I guess we all knew ,deep down, with all your other responsibilities, this just couldn’t go on forever. I so appreciate what you have done, amazingly well, for us as Zenny’s voice. I hope your life can finally get back to normal and we shall hold you in the highest regard forever as ZENNY’S VOICE!

    To the Mosses, thank you for sharing AMERICA’S HORSE with us, what a monumental effort that has been for your whole team. We will be eternally grateful for any news and pictures you can share with us. God Bless your whole team for their kindness, and my deepest love and affection to my lovely Zenyatta and 12Z, whom I hope to continue following.

    Love Auntie Sue

  25. / Reply

    Dear Dottie, Thank you so much for bringing Zenyatta to us in even a more personal way. I will miss hearing from her through you. Well done! I think you have a book there! Look forward to hearing how Zenyatta and Tasty are doing in the future,
    Thank you again,
    REbecca

  26. / Reply

    Dear Dottie, Thank you so very much, you will be missed.

    Dean Ann & Jerry, Thank you so much for keeping this alive and sharing Your Darlin’ and her Darlin’ with us. I think you do know how much this means to all of us. My heart is mending, but I will Miss The Diary (Dottie), but am so very happy that we will still be sharing our lives with Zenyatta’s and Yours. I love you all, Thank you…Lisag

  27. / Reply

    I’d like to thank the Mosses and Dottie for sharing a big part of their lives with all of Zenyatta’s fans. The work involved was huge and time consuming and I know it was very much appreciated by everyone who read this journal. I’m looking forward to the Little Guy’s racing career in a couple of years…………
    Thanks for sharing!

  28. / Reply

    Thank you so much, Dottie, Ann and Jerry. As I sit here crying, I never thought in my life that I could love and care for an animal that I have never meet nor probably will ever be able to. Dottie you have brought the “voice” of Zenyatta to life and I’m sure that if she could write herself she wouldn’t change a thing. A clean break is sometimes best and I actually think this is a perfect time because as much as we all LOVE Zenyatta, getting to know that foal 5x a week on a diary post it would probably be just too much to handle seeing him separated from her in just 5 short months from now. There’s nothing like a baby and there will never be another first foal from Zenyatta. I look forward to seeing the pictures and videos in the future and wish nothing but the best for all of you.

  29. / Reply

    Mr.and Mrs. Moss and the Z Web Team: Thank you so much for your letter. It is most reassuring and relieving to know that we will still receive periodic updates onZenyatta and her Prince. The daily diaries were wonderful to read but I know they had to be time consuminig for Dottie to translate Zenyatta’s words. And it appears that all of us will still be able to interact with each other as before. I appreciate the fact that you need to enjoy the little prince’s early life in privacy as much as possible, because as he grows and matures and enters his first day of “school” as Zenyatta refers to her early training period. Best wishes to you and thank you for giving us all this.

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