Zenyatta foal Cozmic One to make debut Friday

ARCADIA, Calif. – Cozmic One, the first foal out of the 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, will make his career debut in a maiden race for 3-year-olds at a mile Friday at Santa Anita.

Cozmic One drew the rail in a field of seven. The colt, by Bernardini, has the same owner and trainer as the immensely popular Zenyatta – owners Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs.

Over the weekend, they discussed a potential entry for Cozmic One, dependent on a successful gate workout Sunday at Santa Anita. After Cozmic One worked a half-mile in 50 seconds from the gate with stablemate Utopian, the decision was finalized.

“We discussed after today that if he broke out of the gate well, we’d run him,” Shirreffs said. “He broke with an older horse, Utopian, who we knew would break straight. He’s shown a lot of progress in the last four or five weeks.”

Victor Espinoza, who was aboard for the workout, will have the mount Friday. Espinoza has frequently worked Cozmic One in recent months.

The colt joined Shirreffs’s stable last year and has been based at Santa Anita since December. Shirreffs has taken his typical patient approach, giving Cozmic One ample time to prepare for his debut.

The maiden race will be the second on an eight-race program, and has been highly anticipated for months. Zenyatta, now a broodmare in Kentucky, is arguably the most popular American racehorse of the 2000s. Her popularity still resonates with racing fans more than four years after her retirement.

Zenyatta, 11, won 19 of 20 starts and lost for the only time in her career when second to Blame in an epic running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in 2010. A year earlier at Santa Anita, Zenyatta became the first female to win the BC Classic at Santa Anita.