Zenyatta News

[PersonalE]

As per Steve Haskin’s FB post in the comments section:

“She (Zellda) is at the barn, but had her training delayed with a hind end problem. John said she looks great.”

[Squeaky]

I would live to know of Zenyatta was bred this year or not, and to whom.

[Slinky_Malinky]

But you apparently understand my frustration about how the filly's being managed after being in some level of training for 2 years now. My comment about a reporter getting in there was admittedly kind of silly but I was just grasping at straws.

This is exactly what went down with Elouissante. She did work after work after work after work and only ran a handful of times in four seasons of racing. She would run well in allowance company, go into stakes company and be soundly defeated, take several months' break, repeat. Even when it was clear that she didn't have the same talent as Zenyatta, they kept her doing work after work rather than drop her in company to where she was competitive. (And they didn't have to drop into claimers, Bay Meadows was still open and so was Golden Gate.)

Same thing with Cozmic One. Work after work, only raced a handful of times and never made it into the frame.

Same thing with Ziconic. He ran 12 times in MSW company at Santa Anita and Del Mar over 3 years -- almost any other trainer would have dropped him in class to MCL or to a track with lower-grade competition. The thing about Ziconic is that he could actually have been a good, fun racehorse who would have won a lot of races, but because the Mosses/Sheriff wouldn't drop him in grade or send him to a lower-tier track, he retired a 12-start maiden.

The pattern that the Mosses have with these horses is that if they're not MSW or stakes quality, they do lots of work in the morning but never make it into the gates in the afternoon.

[BaroqueAgain1]

IIRC, Eblouissante was coming along OK, when she was entered in a small stakes in New York. She acted up in the gate, but was sent off anyway. Did not finish well, but it turned out that she had hurt herself in the gate. Must not have been visible to the gate crew, but she suffered cuts and a broken tooth...which must have hurt a lot.
She never showed much enthusiasm for racing after that, and I don't blame her. She had talent, but apparently a good memory as well. Racing can be an uncomfortable experience for racehorses, and sensible animals sometimes put their hoof down and say 'enough.'

[Slinky_Malinky]

IIRC, Eblouissante was coming along OK, when she was entered in a small stakes in New York. She acted up in the gate, but was sent off anyway. Did not finish well, but it turned out that she had hurt herself in the gate. Must not have been visible to the gate crew, but she suffered cuts and a broken tooth...which must have hurt a lot.
She never showed much enthusiasm for racing after that, and I don't blame her. She had talent, but apparently a good memory as well. Racing can be an uncomfortable experience for racehorses, and sensible animals sometimes put their hoof down and say 'enough.'

She had work after work after work after work before that...her first race was November of her 3yo season, a Maiden Special in California. She was in training w/o racing for most of that year. She ran in an AOC at Santa Anita 2 months later, and then didn't run again until the Shuvee at Saratoga.

You're not wrong, but the pattern of "let's work this horse almost a year without ever running it" was established with her well before that. I remember chatter on this board about it at the time.

[Flanders]

from a few days ago, Zilkha and some other yearling fillies, video at link:

https://twitter.com/LanesEndFarms/statu ... 9946860545

[Diver52]

I was almost going to post in the conversation about "winning a race named for your parent" that maybe Zellda could win the Zenyatta S., but maybe this little one can do it. Mom's BCC remains one of my moments to die with in my heart.

[Flanders]

I was almost going to post in the conversation about "winning a race named for your parent" that maybe Zellda could win the Zenyatta S., but maybe this little one can do it. Mom's BCC remains one of my moments to die with in my heart.

That Zellda STILL hasn't worked since mid-2020 doesn't bode well for her ever starting imo. Which is a shame since I feel like they teased up when she was 2 that she was getting close but instead they just did 37 more workouts.

[TapitsGal]

I was almost going to post in the conversation about "winning a race named for your parent" that maybe Zellda could win the Zenyatta S., but maybe this little one can do it. Mom's BCC remains one of my moments to die with in my heart.

That Zellda STILL hasn't worked since mid-2020 doesn't bode well for her ever starting imo. Which is a shame since I feel like they teased up when she was 2 that she was getting close but instead they just did 37 more workouts.

Ive pretty much given up on Zellda ever running and I suspect she has underlying issues...I honestly don't get why they don't just send her to the farm and breed her at this point...at least they have one daughter to carry on zenyattas legacy cause Z isn't getting any younger

[Flanders]

I was almost going to post in the conversation about "winning a race named for your parent" that maybe Zellda could win the Zenyatta S., but maybe this little one can do it. Mom's BCC remains one of my moments to die with in my heart.

That Zellda STILL hasn't worked since mid-2020 doesn't bode well for her ever starting imo. Which is a shame since I feel like they teased up when she was 2 that she was getting close but instead they just did 37 more workouts.

Ive pretty much given up on Zellda ever running and I suspect she has underlying issues...I honestly don't get why they don't just send her to the farm and breed her at this point...at least they have one daughter to carry on zenyattas legacy cause Z isn't getting any younger

They have 2.

[swale1984]

I was almost going to post in the conversation about "winning a race named for your parent" that maybe Zellda could win the Zenyatta S., but maybe this little one can do it. Mom's BCC remains one of my moments to die with in my heart.

That Zellda STILL hasn't worked since mid-2020 doesn't bode well for her ever starting imo. Which is a shame since I feel like they teased up when she was 2 that she was getting close but instead they just did 37 more workouts.

Ive pretty much given up on Zellda ever running and I suspect she has underlying issues...I honestly don't get why they don't just send her to the farm and breed her at this point...at least they have one daughter to carry on zenyattas legacy cause Z isn't getting any younger

I love John as a trainer, but I have to wonder if Zen's offspring would do better if sent to a different trainer. I know Jerry Moss has used Sadler before, or maybe even send Zilkha to Simon Callaghan?

[Squeaky]

Any ideas if Z was bred this year and to which stallion? Thanks-

[Flanders]

Any ideas if Z was bred this year and to which stallion? Thanks-

Breedings usually show up sometime in August on the BC webpage, I'm guessing the answer has to wait til then. The last I saw someone asked at Lane's End(not that long ago) and the worker at Lane's End wouldn't say or said they didn't know.

[Flanders]

https://twitter.com/LanesEndFarms/statu ... 1939140609
Lane's End posted another pic of Zilkha today. I'm guessing the brightness of the sun blew the color out? It looks like it was taken in the 80s.

[Flanders]

So I can't double check as I can't get on Zenyatta forums because they wont work for me again. But when looking for stuff about Zellda, on horseracingnation someone said this a few days ago:

Original poster: Recovering from a injury. Still at the Shirreffs' barn at Santa Anita.

someone asked: What kind of injury?

Original poster: I'll quote user from Zenyatta's forums: "According to Steve Haskin, at my request a couple of months ago, he asked John or his Dottie about Zellda. She's coming off an injury, can't remember what but inclined to think it was hind quarters maybe, but is doing well. I believe she's still in John's barn at Santa Anita."

[swale1984]

This is the most recent stuff I can find there. Now it's that she's "accident prone". What's the difference between "accident prone" and "unsound"?

http://forums.zenyatta.com/discussion/c ... ent_318899

[Flanders]

This is the most recent stuff I can find there. Now it's that she's "accident prone". What's the difference between "accident prone" and "unsound"?

http://forums.zenyatta.com/discussion/c ... ent_318899

In this context I'm going with, they don't want to call her unsound because they don't want to listen to others cry about it.

[swale1984]

This is the most recent stuff I can find there. Now it's that she's "accident prone". What's the difference between "accident prone" and "unsound"?

http://forums.zenyatta.com/discussion/c ... ent_318899

In this context I'm going with, they don't want to call her unsound because they don't want to listen to others cry about it.

I guess that makes sense, given some of the crazies that hang out on various Zen forums/social media.

[Flanders]

This is the most recent stuff I can find there. Now it's that she's "accident prone". What's the difference between "accident prone" and "unsound"?

http://forums.zenyatta.com/discussion/c ... ent_318899

In this context I'm going with, they don't want to call her unsound because they don't want to listen to others cry about it.

I guess that makes sense, given some of the crazies that hang out on various Zen forums/social media.

I mean it genuinely could be accidents, horses can and will hurt themselves on anything. Maybe she cast herself in the stall? Maybe she did something else at some point? Everything about her is always numerous steps removed from the person that actually said it, so at that point to be its only rumors to me.

[Flanders]

new photo of Zilkha.