NEWS
Ingordo back at work after latest thrill with Zenyatta
Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 4:01 PM
by Jeff Lowe
David Ingordo was surprised enough at the price when he snagged Zenyatta for $60,000 in the 2005 Keeneland September yearling sale that his first reaction was to make sure he bought the right horse.
Ingordo, a bloodstock adviser to Jerry and Ann Moss, hurried over to watch Zenyatta leave the auction ring and saw, to his relief, her distinctive white blaze.
“When the hammer fell and the guy was bringing me the ticket, I thought, ‘Did I buy the wrong horse,” Ingordo said on Tuesday at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. “I ran over and the guys know me real well and they said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘Right back.’ I saw her come down and saw that white blaze. That’s when I knew [it was the right horse]. The guy said, ‘What was that?’ I said, ‘Nothing, nothing.’”
Ingordo said the Moss team had pegged Zenyatta at around $200,000.
At the time, Zenyatta’s half siblings, multiple Grade 1 winner Balance, by Thunder Gulch, and stakes winner Where’s Bailey, by Aljabr, were both still under the radar. Balance won her career debut about a month later, on October 7, and Where’s Bailey became a stakes winner on October 21 in a division of the Remington Park Oaks.
Ingordo said he got a dubious reaction from a good friend and respected horsemen when he described Zenyatta, who is from the first crop of Darley stallion Street Cry (Ire) and out of eventual Broodmare of the Year Vertigineux, by Kris S.
“He said, ‘Street Cry? What would you want one of those for?,’” Ingordo recalled. “He was a freshman sire and the mare had a couple foals that hadn’t done anything yet. … We got lucky on that part.
“She’s a different type. At that point, people were looking for a quick, two-year-old type. She was big and immature, but she had the frame. I just think it was meant to be.”
Ingordo was at Santa Anita Park on Saturday for the final and biggest triumph in her unbeaten career, a one-length victory against males in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). By choice, he did not have much of a celebration Saturday night—he took a red-eye flight and was back to work at the sales on Sunday.
“I wanted to just get back to work and come back to earth gradually,” Ingordo said. “People ask what it’s like, and there are no words to describe it. Everybody in the business tries to get around something like that, whether you’ve been doing it one year or 50 years.
“To have the chance to do it, I’m just speechless. It’s humbling. There are lots of people who have been doing this that are probably smarter and better or have more money, and to have the good fortune of this is hard to believe.”
Ingordo is quick to credit his stepfather, John Shirreffs, for overseeing Zenyatta’s ascent. Shirreffs is married to Ingordo’s mother, Dottie Ingordo Shirreffs, who also is the Mosses’ racing manager.
“I’m 1,000% certain that if any other trainer in the world had that horse, things may not have turned out like that,” Ingordo said.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
