NEWS
Zenyatta retires
Posted: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 1:21 PM
ZENYATTA WINS 2009 BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC
Benoit & Associates photo
by Jeff Lowe
As the Horse of the Year debate rages on, the debate over Zenyatta’s legacy in the annals of the Turf can begin after Jerry and Ann Moss officially retired their multiple champion Zenyatta on Wednesday following a distinct career that included 19 straight wins and the first-ever victory by a female in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
The six-year-old Street Cry (Ire) mare will be shipped from Hollywood Park to Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, in December.
The Mosses did not announce a covering sire, but Lane’s End stands one of the obvious candidates, A.P. Indy.
Zenyatta’s half sister, the multiple Grade 1-winning Thunder Gulch mare Balance, produced an A.P Indy colt as her first foal who topped the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale. Ben Leon bought the colt for $4.2-million and named him Mr. Besilu.
Balance’s other foal is a weanling colt by Street Cry (Ire), the sire of Zenyatta.
Sid Fernando, a pedigree consultant who is the president of the eNicks and eMatings.com services, said A.P. Indy and current leading sire Giant’s Causeway have the best nick ratings at “A+++” for a match with Zenyatta.
“In this case, the two stallions you would probably think of first actually work for the mare—the nicks are proven,” Fernando said. “I really like Giant’s Causeway for her because Street Cry’s close relative is Shamardal, by Giant’s Causeway. You’re reproducing a lot of the same elements that have already worked with Shamardal.”
Shamardal, a European champion two-year-old and dual French classic winner, is out of a full sister to Street Cry. From his first Northern Hemisphere crop, Shamardal sired another two-time French classic winner, Lope de Vega, who closely was inbred to Street Cry’s sire, Machiavellian.
Giant’s Causeway also is the sire of Zenyatta’s three-year-old half brother, Souper Spectacular, who notched his third consecutive victory on November 14 at Aqueduct.
Fernando noted that A. P. Indy’s Grade 1-winning daughters Flashing and Jilbab were bred on a similar pattern to what he would produce with Zenyatta. Flashing, the 2009 Test Stakes (G1) and Gazelle Stakes (G1) winner, and Jilbab, the 2002 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) winner, are both out of Machiavellian mares.
Byron Rogers, a pedigree analyst who works with Alan Porter in the True Nicks service, also said Zenyatta would match up well with A.P. Indy and Giant’s Causeway, and he pointed to Medaglia d’Oro as a third option.
“Medaglia d’Oro has done very well with Mr. Prospector mares, and he’s physically a horse who would fit well with her,” Rogers said. “With the first couple foals, you want to keep it fairly safe so you can know what she’s doing, what kind of horse that she’s producing from a physical standpoint. These three sires are known commodities—you pretty much know what they do physically—and they probably have an idea not to throw too many variables at the mating until you can see physically what she’s producing.
“She’s a big mare, and that’s something you have to consider, just making sure that the physical types fit together and not wanting to go too extreme from her. You have to balance that with getting some speed into the family, because she was a mare that wanted all of ten furlongs to be at her best, and they tend not to write races in North America much past a mile and a sixteenth these days. You might want to have a little more speed in the pedigree.”
Zenyatta retires with 13 Grade 1 wins and $7,304,000 in career earnings, both records for a North American-raced female. She is tied with Spectacular Bid for third on the all-time list with 13 Grade 1 wins. John Henry set the record with 16 Grade 1 wins, and Affirmed and Forego are tied for second with 14 each.
According to Daily Racing Form, the Mosses and trainer John Shirreffs have agreed to parade Zenyatta at Hollywood Park on December 5.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
To read the THOROUGHBRED TIMES commemorative issue honoring Zenyatta, click here. (Caution: Large PDF file).
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Masuda, upton, KY on November 19, 2010 at 11:09 PM
Tom,
Why weren't there fillies and mares coming out there to race her? I will tell you why Tom because the fillies and mares on the east coast were trained on dirt, they run on dirt not cut up car tires. Why should every good filly and mare on the east coast running in a track that Zenyatta has run on and trained on her whole life? She is one horse, why couldn't she leave and go to other tracks instead of having every quality horse go to her. Which is what has happened the last 3 years. And in any other state but CA most of her races would have been a grade 3 or a grade 2 at best. They are pretty liberal about sticking Grades 1's on about ever damn race that CA has got. Oh and you told AfleetAlexForever but good when you said that Zenyatta blew by Quality Road like he was standing still. But you left out one important thing, so did every other horse bud. But she didn't blow past Blame did she at least not before the wire anyway. Yeah I know I know she almost got him, just like 4, 5, 6 of her other races in CA against horses that were clearly sub par that she almost lost to at the same distance. I really enjoyed watching her duck every big race, every big horse for the entire year including every one in her own home state. Now what possible excuses can you Zenyatta fans come up with for that? And I guess that you think that she should have horse of the year off the schedule that she ran this year...PLEASE. She ran males twice and she lost 50% of the time. Maybe the media can get her horse of the year this time because that us the only way that she will win.
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Posted by: Terry S., Phoenix, AZ on November 19, 2010 at 06:25 PM
Careful Margo, you're discrediting yoruself with your complete and utter lack of knowledge about which you speak. You said she can't deliver when running against nice stud colts (first of all that shows how amatuer you really are). It seems to me she ran against nice "stud colts" last year in the BC Classic and beat ALL of them and this year she rans against the best and was beaten by only ONE of them so get your facts straight. Zenyatta delivered more on that track at Churchill Downs than all but one of those nice "stud colts" you favor. Let slook at those nice stud colts shall we? Looking At Lucky, finished 4th. Haynesfield (who beat Blame prior to the BC) was second to last only in front of Quality Road. Fly Down was th eonly other hrose who showed his mettle and finished 3rd. Espoir City, Japans's premium "stud colt" couldn't hang, Mucket Man couldn't hang, Morning Line couldn't hang, First Dude, couldnt; hang, Paddy O'Prado couldnt; hang, noe of the rest could hang either and frankly NONE of the field ran better than Zenyatta including Blame. He DID get to the wire first but definitely was at the benefit of a perfect trip as admitted by his jockey whereas Zenyatta was practically stopped by Quality Road (you know one of those nice "stud colts" Zen couldn't deliver against) and he most assuredly hampered her momentum, then went around a tiring wall of "stud colts" on a very tiring and cuppy track to almost collar Blame only to come up short by a head. Get your facts straight before you come in spouting like a know it all just as your buddy afleetalexforever tries to do. I am sure you'll run to the hills just as he does when he stirs the dirt. Notice he hasn't been in here since he stirred the original dirt. Very classless of him to do so on a reirement thread but everyone is used to his BS by now. He's a mere fly on Zenyatta's dung and you seem to be quickly heading that direction yourself. Get educated before you speak........Afleetalexforveer is living proof of the uneducated and classless opinion and truthfully we dont' need another.
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Posted by: Margo, Colorado Springs, CO on November 19, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Afleetalexforever... you are so right thank you so much that is my points exactly she hasnt beat anyone in the last couple years except for Breeders cup classic last year and guess what when she races agaionst very nice stud colts she doesnt deliver so your right i am backing you she hasnt beat anyone so she doesnt deserve to be horse of the year
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Posted by: sue, hollister, CA on November 19, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Long Live Queen Z!! There are probably a long list of consorts for her. The Mosses will do right by her and pick the one that best suits her conformation & bloodline best. Can't wait to see what hits the ground in 2012 & the track will be enlivened in 2013.In truth, the genetic click that makes her so special must be preserved. May our Queen take to motherhood as well as she took to racing. May the summer of 2012 give us a pic of our girl teaching a long legged foal the thrill of racing the wind.
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Posted by: John, Seattle, WA on November 19, 2010 at 01:59 AM
I just read that John Nerud, the legendary trainer for Dr. Fager and Ta Wee, said this about Zenyatta "she's a hellavu horse, the best mare I've ever seen."
Allen Jerkens, another legendary trainer, when asked by a New York Times reporter who should be HOY he flatly said "Zenyatta and no one else."
Then you have Peter Ellis, the famed form analysis for Australian horseracing calling Zenyatta "THE horse of the last 40 years".
The gentlemen are joined by Bob Baffer, Jack Van Berg, D. Wayne Lukas and others saying Zenyatta is the greatest female racehorse of all time and one the greatest racehorse of all time.
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