Zenyatta in foal to Medaglia d'Oro

Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year, was confirmed by her connections on Thursday to be in foal to Medaglia d’Oro for 2017.

The foal will be the fifth for the newly elected Hall of Famer, who is owned by Jerry and Ann Moss and resides at Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky. The mating was initially announced in May.

It is the first time Zenyatta was paired with Medaglia d’Oro, who stands at Darley’s U.S. base in Lexington, Ky., for an advertised fee of $150,000. Zenyatta is a daughter of the late Street Cry, who was also on the Darley roster.

Zenyatta is still seeking her first win as a broodmare. Her first foal was Cozmic One, a Bernardini colt who is unplaced in two starts and has not raced in a year but is working toward his return at Santa Anita. Second foal Ziconic, a Tapit colt, has placed in two of four starts and most recently finished fourth in a Santa Anita maiden special weight June 5.

Both horses are owned by the Mosses and trained by John Shirreffs, who also handled Zenyatta during her racing career.

The mare produced a War Front filly from her third mating who was euthanized as a weanling following a paddock accident. Zenyatta was given a year off from breeding and returned to War Front for the 2015 breeding season, but the foal died three days after he was born due to complications from meconium aspiration.

Medaglia d’Oro, a 17-year-old son of El Prado, is best known as the sire of Rachel Alexandra, who edged out Zenyatta in the voting for 2009 Horse of the Year by a margin of 130-99 and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the same class as Zenyatta.

Other notable runners sired by Medaglia d’Oro include the champion Songbird, Australian champion Vancouver, Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty, and Grade 1 or Group 1 winners Passion for Gold, Mshawish, Marketing Mix, Coffee Clique, C. S. Silk, Lochte, and Violence.

Medaglia d’Oro won eight of 17 starts for earnings of $5,754,720, highlighted by Grade 1 wins in the Travers Stakes, Whitney Handicap, and Donn Handicap. He was twice a runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

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