Zenyatta retired, will be sent to Lane’s End in Kentucky
By Steve Andersen
Daily Racing Form
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Zenyatta has been officially retired and her new home beginning next month will be Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky., the farm announced on Wednesday.
Zenyatta, whose 19-race unbeaten streak ended with a second-place finish by a head to Blame in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6, is expected to be flown to Kentucky in early December, trainer John Shirreffs said on Wednesday.
The wildly popular 6-year-old Zenyatta has been based at Shirreffs’s barn at Hollywood Park since Nov. 7 and will remain with him through November.
Wednesday’s announcement by Lane’s End ends speculation that Zenyatta would stay in training for a 2011 campaign, although Shirreffs had said since the Breeders’ Cup that there were no plans to race her. No breeding plans have been finalized, he said.
The top stallion at Lane’s End is A.P. Indy, who commands a $150,000 fee.
Last November, after Zenyatta won the BC Classic at Santa Anita, she was announced as retired, a decision that was reversed in January of this year by owners Jerry and Ann Moss.
LIFETIME PPs: Zenyatta’s career past performances (PDF)
Before Zenyatta leaves California next month, she is scheduled to be paraded before the public at Hollywood Park on Dec. 5.
Details of the Dec. 5 event are still being finalized, according to track president Jack Liebau. Jerry Moss and Liebau discussed the event on Tuesday, Liebau said.
“We haven’t worked out the details,” Liebau said. “We’re getting a bunch of calls from people who want to see the horse.”
For the last six months, Zenyatta has been a popular attraction on the backstretches of Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and especially at Churchill Downs on the week of the Breeders’ Cup. Shirreffs said Lane’s End would attempt to accommodate Zenyatta’s fans in some capacity in the future.
“They said they’d work with it,” Shirreffs said.
In the last week, Zenyatta’s routine has varied from walking at Shirreffs’s barn to undergoing light exercise on the main track or backstretch training track. Wednesday, she was jogged on the main track, but that was primarily for a set of action photographs commissioned by Ann Moss, Shirreffs said.
“We don’t want to let her get too high,” he said.
In the last week, Shirreffs said fans have continued to reach out to Zenyatta since her loss at Churchill Downs.
“We’ve gotten a lot of fan mail and support,” he said. “People want to come out and see her.”
Jasmine
YAY!! Well deserved retirement. I read that they were going to put her in one more race but I’m glad it’s a phony article because I was not liking that idea.
As much as I’d miss her racing, she has earned EVERYTHING that comes with horsey retirement. :)
Lisa g
Ms Zenyatta, I love you, beautiful. I hope I can get to Kentucky next year to see you. Have a girl, OK. Hope they keep help you keep up your posts…I will be lost without you and you daily posts. Well, can’t see the screen again..love and hugs, Lisa g
Daina
Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?
Here, where grace is served with muscle
And strength by gentleness confined
She served without servility; she fought without enmity.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.
There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient – – ZENYATTA. Thanks beautiful Z for gracing us with your unforgettable career and your adorable antics. I am blessed to have witnessed something so magnificent in my life. I can’t wait to see you in Kentucky!!
Deanne
Zenyatta,
Today, it’s a rainy and cold day in Kentucky. Exactly how my heart is feeling. I assure you, I will be your biggest fan and friend when you come to Kentucky but oh how I will miss hearing your name as She’s Just Poetry in Motion, Zenyatta YES, Here’s the Real ZENMASTER…with every call my desire of watching you grew bigger and bigger and so did my heart. Zenyatta, you have left a permanant hoofprint in my heart and forever I am grateful to you. You touch so many lives and forever change them. Thanks for being the Queen that you are and I so look forward to many more of your hoofprints on my heart. You are forever loved. You did it girl….now go and get it!!! You deserve only the very best and enjoy your next chapter. Can’t wait to walk with you in whatever that may be.
LONG LIVE THE QUEEN ZENYATTA!!!!!!!!!
Jan Glover
Hi Beautiful Girl!!
I am so excited to read that you’ll be keeping in touch with us after your big move to Kentucky!!!
Wondered if you had the time in your busy schedule to check out the videos made for you on youtube??? Girl, You Rock!!! There’s a contest on Facebook for video submissions of you–and only You!! here’s my favorite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llf8gdfCRIE
there’s a couple that wrote a really nice song that i imagine you could really cut the rug dancing and prancing to it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828F82YQG6c
Sure do wish I could see you on December 5th–hope you have a blast!!!!
Take care!!
Love You!!
jennifer
Zenyatta! I visited Lanes End on Sunday after the Classic……I picked Rock Hard Ten for you and I didn’t even know you were going there. Take a look at him and see what you think.
You have been such a joy in my life and I thank Team Zenyatta for making you so accessible to all of your fans. Especially Sunday after the Classic behind your barn.
I was at Santa Anita to see you win the Classic and was at Churchill Downs this year at the starting gate. The sun had just set and the lights had come on. The sky was purple in your honor. It was so quiet. When the gates opened I was amazed at the ease and grace you had starting the race. Mike was sitting quietly on your back. You were further behind the field than ever before. When you came around the final turn heading for the finish line and came up on Quality Road, I saw you and Mike make a SUPER horse and human effort to pull up and get around….I thought you were going to make it and you did. In my heart always, you won that race, Blame just got lucky.
Sara Rhudy
Oh Zenyatta, Zenyatta, you big, beautiful Queen!!!! I’ll miss you so much, but you have a big piece of my heart, so you will always be with me. I also have my Breyer model of you sitting right where everyone who comes into my home can see it! I hope so much that Team Zenyatta keeps your website up & updated so we can still “visit” you! And I hope that the folks at your new home will allow your fans to come & visit cause I’ll be visiting for sure if they do.
Take care sweet girl & know that you are loved forever by so many millions of fans all over the world just like me! My “girls,” Lady, Honey & Mysti send you lots of sweet nickers & neighs & I send you lots of peppermint kisses & big alfalfa hugs! We love you, Queen Z!! xoxoxoxo
Theresa Buck
enjoy the good life….you are still the best
Jan Glover
Hi Big Girl!!!
Oh girl!! I was thrilled after reading the Thoroughbred Times’ commerative issue all about You, your racing career, and Team Zenyatta!!!
I hope you have a great time saying goodbye to everyone at your event at Hollywood Park, and remember there are those that adore you that sure wish we could be there, too!!!
-> ->Maybe, just maybe, it will be televised by ESPN, HRTV, TVG, 60 minutes, one of the news channels, or maybe all of them??!!! I sure do hope so because if it is televised, Big Girl, you know we will be glued to the screen!!!
Excited to read that you will be keeping in touch with us when you make your big move to Kentucky!!!
Wondered if you had seen the video contest hosted by the Breeders’ Cup for you?? Winners of the contest will attend the Elipse Awards. All the videos are great!! My favorite video is Zenyatta Tribute-Heart by Jess!! and I really love a song that was written by a couple, too, Go, go, go, go, Zenyatta!!! I can picture you doing your beautiful dressage steps in rhythm to “Your Song!!” You can see the videos at youtube, also, and let me tell you, Girl, you would be surprised at the number of videos made of you–unbelievable!!
Love you!!
Linda / Maryland
Hi beautiful Lady~!!!
Lady Z you are the most spectacular lady I have ever seen. I am so Happy for you that you are going to retire now happy and sound. We, (your fans) are going to be so sad not to see you on TV anymore, but its time for you to move on in your life, rest and have little Z’s.
Mike said it correctly, there is not stallion good enough for you~!!
I have saved all of your videos off of youtube so I can watch them over and over again when you are gone to Kentucky.
I would love to have one of your paintings you do for horses with no homes. How nice of you to help them. I have two of them here on my farm. I wish I could take in all of them.
Have a wonderful life, Zenyatta we all LOVE YOU ~!!!
Brydee / Manila, Philippines
im an avid racing fan, never in my whole life i’ve seen a such powerful and dominating mare. :) she’s a real heaven sent. She’s within the level of fame and well loved by fans just like SECRETARIAT. if only i could she her in person.
Dottie Combest
This is my open letter to Zenyatta ~ We will miss you tremendiously ~ BC Classic 2010 was a sad day in one way (we wanted very much for you to win we cried many tears for you) ~ yet it was good in other ways ~ you showed the world the wonderful heart you have in that gutsy stretch run ~ being off six inches is NO disgrace to your “Legacy” ~ and don’t let them tell you it was ‘head’ cause I measured it and it was six inches ~ we ALL know that the next stride and it was all yours ~ just a damned shame the wire came first ~ you were the BEST horse in the race but you had such a bad trip and alot to overcome ~ your adoring fans want you to be “HORSE of the DECADE” ~ you gave us the best three years of racing that we haven’t had in a long time ~ Enjoy your retirement and when I get to Lexington I’ll come by to visit with you with a basket full of goodies ~ Hope you go to A P Indy, his daddy won the 1977 Triple Crown, and his granddaddy (mom’s side) won the 1973 Triple Crown !!! You are our Queen and you deserve a Crown !!! May God bless and protect you and all your babies !!! Signed with LOVE
Robyn Mullhausen
Zenyatta, thank you and your entire team and owners for so generously sharing you with us. Maybe the “boys” should pay for the privilege of being your baby’s Daddy, but that would turn you into a different kind of “lady”, but you will be a wonderful Mommy and I hope to follow you through those days. Wish I could be in CA on the 5th to see you. Have a safe trip to KY and I hope they know that you are use to being treated like the Royalty you are.
NormanWL
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Zenyatta forever
Zenyatta, You are a miracle and always will be. Everyone would have loved to see you race again next year but God bless you and give you the best because you deserve absolutely nothing else. Thx 4 giving us something worth watching. We love you and best of luck!! :D xoxo