Zenyatta's son Cozmic One the marquee attraction at the Thoroughbred Makeover

Ten stakes races will be conducted on the star-studded opening week at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., with plenty of runners hoping to move on to the Breeders’ Cup. But the most popular Thoroughbred in competition in Lexington this week might be a few miles away at the Kentucky Horse Park as several hundred retired racehorses vie for their own rich prize.

Cozmic One, the first foal out of immensely popular Hall of Fame racemare Zenyatta, is one of nearly 500 Thoroughbreds expected to compete at the Retired Racehorse Project’s $100,000 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, set for Thursday-Sunday.

The Thoroughbred Makeover, which has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2013, showcases Thoroughbreds in a variety of sporthorse and working disciplines to increase awareness of the breed’s versatility and trainability, thereby increasing demand for Thoroughbreds as riding horses. Horses with 10 months or less of retraining compete in as many as two of the 10 disciplines offered at the Makeover – barrel racing, competitive trail, dressage, eventing, field hunters, freestyle, polo, show hunters, show jumpers, and working ranch. Each division’s top finishers compete on the final day, culminating with a best-in-show competition for the America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred crown, with spectators on-site and watching via livestream voting on the results.

“Entries for this year’s Thoroughbred Makeover are up over last year’s record numbers by nearly 40 percent, making this the largest retraining competition for ex-racehorses in history,” Retired Racehorse Project executive director Jen Roytz said. “Lexington is the epicenter of all things Thoroughbred in North America, and it’s only natural that running concurrently with the world-class racing at Keeneland this October will be an elite competition for horses in their careers after racing. If you’re involved with Thoroughbreds, Lexington is the place to be next weekend.”

Cozmic One, a 6-year-old Bernardini gelding, will compete in show hunters and show jumpers under Isabela de Sousa. Cozmic One arrived to great fanfare in March 2012 as the first foal out of Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year who won 19 of 20 career starts, including the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic and 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic. But Cozmic One, who raced as a homebred for Jerry and Ann Moss and was trained by John Shirreffs, went winless in five career starts, never finishing better than fourth. He was retired last fall and gelded in preparation for a new career.

De Sousa, who grew up around Thoroughbreds as the daughter of Hidden Brook Farm managing partner Sergio de Sousa and equine veterinarian Karen Wolfsdorf, has won the show jumping division at the Thoroughbred Makeover in three consecutive years – with Dewey Square (2015), Carajillo (2016), and Late Night Mark (2017). She has competed Cozmic One in Lexington-area shows throughout the summer in preparation for his bid for the America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred crown. Their outings have included the New Vocations all-Thoroughbred charity show in September at the Kentucky Horse Park, where the gelding’s ribbons included a second-place finish in a class of 25 horses.

The several former stakes runners entered to compete at the Thoroughbred Makeover include Grade 1 winner Smooth Roller, who is entered in dressage and show hunters under trainer Duncan McIntosh, who is based out of Edmonton Farm in California.

Smooth Roller won 3 of his 4 career starts, including the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes in 2015 over the likes of Hoppertunity and Bayern. It turned out to be his final start, as he was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Classic a few weeks later and never made it back to the races.

Five entrants in the Thoroughbred Makeover earned more than $500,000 during their racing careers: Multiple stakes-placed Don Dulce (earned $676,480, entered in competitive trail and dressage), stakes winner Mr Palmer ($641,693, show hunters), graded stakes winner Stormofthecentury ($561,831, dressage and competitive trail), graded stakes winner Trouble Kid ($535,478, barrel racing and freestyle), and graded stakes-placed Hammers Terror ($522,372, competitive trail and freestyle).