NEWS
Unbeaten Zenyatta to remain in training in '09
Posted: Saturday, November 15, 2008 2:39 PM
ZENYATTA
Benoit & Associates photo
by Mike Curry
One year after reigning Horse of the Year Curlin returned for his four-year-old campaign, Thoroughbred racing will be treated to the return of another star in 2009. Undefeated Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1) winner Zenyatta will remain in training next year for owners Jerry and Ann Moss.
Trainer John Shirreffs confirmed the four-year-old Street Cry (Ire) filly will return to racing for her five-year-old campaign after a well-deserved break.
“You can’t imagine what it would be like for her to leave the barn, that’s a big spot to fill,” Shirrefs said on Saturday. “This has just been a very exciting year with Zenyatta, so it’s really nice that she’s going to continue on.
“Mr. Moss is obviously a great sportsman and loves racing, so I think that played a big part in it. I know he really enjoys his horses.”
Zenyatta won each of her seven starts this season and cemented her credentials as a leading contender for the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year with a last-to-first 1 1/2-length score in the Ladies’ Classic. Zenyatta uncoiled her devastating closing speed in the stretch of the Ladies’ Classic to sweep past seven challengers en route to a clear victory under regular rider Mike Smith.
“She’s at Hollywood [Park], she’s going to stay here. We’re not going to turn her out and let her down,” Shirreffs said. “She is going to walk for about 60 days and then we’ll start back with her.”
Zenyatta also won the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), Vanity Handicap (G1), Lady’s Secret Stakes (G1), Clement L. Hirsch Handicap (G2), Milady Handicap (G2), and El Encino Stakes (G2) this season and figures to be an overwhelming selection for the Eclipse Award as champion older female.
“Actually, it was amazing just being a fan of hers as I am and watching because each race was a little more difficult and she had to step up. You know how hard it is just for a maiden to come back and win an [allowance race],” Shirreffs said. “To go to a Grade 2 and then a Grade 1, the intensity of racing just kept getting better and better as she went along, and she just did it so easily.
“Probably the most amazing thing about her is after her races she would be back at the test barn and after five minutes she caught her breath and was walking around like she had just been out for a workout. She just showed such strong recuperative powers, it was really unbelievable.”
A half sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Balance, Zenyatta is out of the winning Kris S. mare Vertigineux. She has amassed $2,144,580 in purse earnings with nine wins in as many starts.
Shirreffs, who has trained Grade 1 winners Tiago, After Market, Hollywood Story, Giacomo, Tarlow, Starrer, and Manistique, said Zenyatta certainly stands out as a special horse.
“I had a really nice filly by the name of Manistique and she won her first three races I think by a combined 30 lengths, and she was really talented,” Shirreffs said. “The thing about Zenyatta is she does things so effortlessly, and it’s really hard to fault her. Some horses get nervous or displace or something, but she doesn’t have any weaknesses at all.
“When they were telling me some of the fractions for the last sixteenth or her last eighth in some of her races, it really was amazing to read about it. To watch her, she just starts to lengthen her stride and stretches her head out and gets lower. She’s just special.”
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
