INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The lives of Zenyatta and her trainer, John Shirreffs, changed rapidly this week.
After being the subject of retirement ceremonies at Hollywood Park on Sunday afternoon and Keeneland on Monday evening, Zenyatta began life as a broodmare at Lane’s End Farm, near Versailles, Ky., on Monday evening.
Daily Racing Form's Glenye Cain Oakford was at a chilly Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., on Monday night as Zenyatta arrived from California. She paraded for her fans before heading to Lane's End Farm to begin her breeding career. Owners Ann and Jerry Moss, trainer John Shirreffs, groom Mario Espinoza, and jockey Mike Smith were all on hand.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Zenyatta's retirement celebration at Keeneland Monday night wasn't just for Kentuckians. Undaunted by 18-degree temperatures, an estimated 1,200 fans came from as far as Washington state, Wisconsin, and New York, and as close as the neighborhoods just across Versailles Road from Keeneland.
They all wanted to see one thing, and they got their wish.
Zenyatta’s journey from California to Kentucky was delayed approximately two hours on Monday morning because of inclement weather in Kentucky.
The wildly popular 6-year-old mare was scheduled to leave trainer John Shirreffs’s base at Hollywood Park about 6:30 a.m. for Ontario airport about 50 miles to the east, but the trip did not start until about 8:30 a.m.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Zenyatta heard the hearty cheers of a California racing audience for the final time at Hollywood Park on Sunday, with an enthusiastic crowd lining the paddock and the winner’s circle to bid farewell to the popular mare.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Zenyatta had more than 125 visitors on the Hollywood Park backstretch on Saturday, as some of her most devoted fans spent the morning watching the popular mare gallop on the training track and grazing at the barn.
Zenyatta is scheduled to be flown to Kentucky on Monday, where she will be paraded at Keeneland at approximately 4 p.m., Eastern. She will be shipped to nearby Lane’s End Farm, where she will reside as a broodmare.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – His voice bellowed to a crowd that was largely looking past him and toward a 1,200-pound horse standing to his side.
“Okay, who’s next?” Steve Willard called out as a middle-aged couple stepped forward.
“Great,” Willard said. “Just stand right here.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It’s time to bid farewell to a legend.
Zenyatta, who has captured the hearts of racing fans worldwide through her remarkable career of 19 wins in 20 starts in the last three years, will be paraded between races at Hollywood Park on Sunday as part of Zenyatta Appreciation Day, a day before she is flown to Kentucky.
Sunday’s ceremony “will be all about the horse,” said Hollywood Park president Jack Liebau. “She’s the attraction.”
