Zenyatta retired, will be sent to Lane’s End in Kentucky

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Zenyatta has been officially retired and her new home beginning next month will be Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky., the farm announced on Wednesday.

Zenyatta, whose 19-race unbeaten streak ended with a second-place finish by a head to Blame in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6, is expected to be flown to Kentucky in early December, trainer John Shirreffs said on Wednesday.

The wildly popular 6-year-old Zenyatta has been based at Shirreffs’s barn at Hollywood Park since Nov. 7 and will remain with him through November.

Wednesday’s announcement by Lane’s End ends speculation that Zenyatta would stay in training for a 2011 campaign, although Shirreffs had said since the Breeders’ Cup that there were no plans to race her. No breeding plans have been finalized, he said.

The top stallion at Lane’s End is A.P. Indy, who commands a $150,000 fee.

Last November, after Zenyatta won the BC Classic at Santa Anita, she was announced as retired, a decision that was reversed in January of this year by owners Jerry and Ann Moss.

LIFETIME PPs: Zenyatta's career past performances (PDF)

Before Zenyatta leaves California next month, she is scheduled to be paraded before the public at Hollywood Park on Dec. 5.

Details of the Dec. 5 event are still being finalized, according to track president Jack Liebau. Jerry Moss and Liebau discussed the event on Tuesday, Liebau said.

“We haven’t worked out the details,” Liebau said. “We’re getting a bunch of calls from people who want to see the horse.”

For the last six months, Zenyatta has been a popular attraction on the backstretches of Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and especially at Churchill Downs on the week of the Breeders’ Cup. Shirreffs said Lane’s End would attempt to accommodate Zenyatta’s fans in some capacity in the future.

“They said they’d work with it,” Shirreffs said.

In the last week, Zenyatta’s routine has varied from walking at Shirreffs’s barn to undergoing light exercise on the main track or backstretch training track. Wednesday, she was jogged on the main track, but that was primarily for a set of action photographs commissioned by Ann Moss, Shirreffs said.

“We don’t want to let her get too high,” he said.

In the last week, Shirreffs said fans have continued to reach out to Zenyatta since her loss at Churchill Downs.

“We’ve gotten a lot of fan mail and support,” he said. “People want to come out and see her.”

HORSE OF THE YEAR DEBATE: Watch Blame and Zenyatta's 2010 replays