Zenyatta's son Cozmic One to become hunter-jumper
Cozmic One, the first foal out of Hall of Famer Zenyatta, has been retired from racing and will be trained toward entry as a hunter-jumper in the 2018 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Bernardini had one of the most-anticipated births in recent memory, arriving on March 8, 2012 with the memory of Zenyatta’s near-perfect racing career still fresh in the minds of the mare’s fans. Cozmic One’s career, however, was more infamous than legendary.
Racing as a homebred for Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs, the same connections that campaigned Zenyatta, Cozmic One went winless in five career starts, never finishing better than fourth. He was slow to mature mentally and did not make his first start until April of his 3-year-old season, finishing sixth at Santa Anita. The colt raced again in July of that year at Belmont Park, running seventh.
Cozmic One then went unraced for the next two years, but continued to breeze steadily. He made his return start in July of his 5-year-old season, moving to the turf to run twice at Del Mar, then finished eighth in his final start, a maiden special weight on Oct. 20 at Santa Anita.
Shirreffs described Cozmic One as a physically strong individual with excellent stamina, not unlike his mother, but he had a few theories on why the horse could never put it all together on the track.
“He needed a longer race,” the trainer said. “He didn’t have any speed, so he needed long distance, then attitude makes a big difference, so it took him a long time to mature.”
Cozmic One continued to train at Santa Anita until late November when the decision was made to retire him to central Kentucky-based De Sousa Stables and geld him.
Despite the race record, Shirreffs said Cozmic One retained his fan-favorite status through his last race.
“I and everyone around Coz really appreciated the fan support he got when he was running, even though everybody probably hoped he’d win and break his maiden,” he said. “After each of the races, everybody was really supportive. It was very, very kind of them.”
Cozmic One will spend the next few weeks turned out at Hidden Brook Farm in Paris, Ky., a boarding and sales consignment operation where de Sousa is managing partner. After that, he will start with ground work, and if all goes to plan, he will graduate to jumps under saddle.
The RRP Thoroughbred Makeover takes place Oct. 4-7 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., and features competitions for ex-racehorses retrained in one or more of 10 different disciplines. To be eligible for the 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover, horses must have raced or had a published work after July 1, 2016 and must not have begun training for a second career before Dec. 1, 2017.
While Cozmic One will be one of the highest-profile horses to ever point for the Thoroughbred Makeover, de Sousa said he did not see the spotlight as a source of pressure, but of opportunity.
“He’s either going to do it or he’s not, it’s pretty straightforward,” de Sousa said. “I think every trainer that trains horses thinks the same way – we can’t run for them, we can’t jump for them. We can just teach them and hope they’ll do well. It’s going to be exciting to have a lot of people watching, because we want to bring more awareness to the retirement of racehorses and retraining for other disciplines.”
In terms of past performance, Cozmic One couldn’t have landed in a better spot to succeed at the Makeover. Isabela de Sousa, Sergio’s daughter, has ridden the winning horse in the event’s show jumping division in each of the past three years.
Isabela de Sousa piloted the Irish-bred Marju gelding Late Night Mark to a win in 2017, while also finishing 9th of over 90 entries with the same horse in the show hunter division. In 2016, she won aboard the Medaglia d’Oro horse Carajillo, and de Sousa tallied her first Makeover win in 2015 on Dewey Square, a Grade 2-placed Bernardini gelding.
“I’d just like to thank Team Zenyatta for the chance to work with him,” the younger de Sousa said. “We’re very excited to see what he can do.”
Horses may be declared eligible for the competition anytime between Feb. 1 and Aug. 1, with final entry during the first weeks of August.
While there is a good deal of space between now and the deadline, Sergio de Sousa stressed that pointing Cozmic One for the Makeover was like pointing a young horse for the Kentucky Derby. The horse must prove he is capable of handling the task, and the timing must work out to maintain form and soundness up to the competition, but life goes on if he is not ultimately part of the show.
De Sousa said the initial roadmap for Cozmic One involved a long-term future in the hunter-jumper ranks, regardless of whether he makes the Thoroughbred Makeover or how he does, but ultimately the horse will tell his new connections what he wants to do.
“I really hope this one will work out, but every year when we come into this project, we take every horse as they come and we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” de Sousa said. “Hopefully with the training we put into them, we do the right thing and the horse responds well to us, and we’ll see what he can do.”