Zenyatta – every little thing she does is magic
Jerry Moss has made his name by being able to spot star talent.
As co-founder of the legendary A&M record label, for which he worked until 1994, he worked closely with a who’s who of popular music which ties in with the other love of his life, racing.
Moss and his wife, Ann, are owner-breeders and the two strands of Moss’s life are entwined by his two best horses. Giacomo, their home-bred winner of the 2005 Kentucky Derby, was named one of the sons of rock musician Sting. And when they spent $60,000 on a yearling filly at the Keeneland Sales in September 2005 they again turned to the singer’s group, The Police, for inspiration.
It was to prove one of the biggest hits of Moss’s life.
Zenyatta, named her after The Police's third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, has won 17 races in a row – 11 of them Grade Ones – and just loose change short of £4million in prize money. But nothing can put a price on what the mare means to Moss.
She is at Del Mar this weekend as her trainer, John Shirreffs, prepares her for the Grade One Clement L Hirsch Stakes and, having changed their minds about retiring her last year, all those close to Zenyatta know that the end is close. After this there are likely to be just one more race before as final curtain call in defence of her title in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November.
In an interview for the racecourse’s website Moss pointed out that, like all music stars, Zenyatta is only as good as her backing group, which in this case is led by the thoughtful Shirreffs who has spent the week checking the Polytrack surface at Del Mar to be confident that it is right for his stable – even career – star. “She didn't just happen to show up in the barn and then all of a sudden start winning all these races all in a row; it took a tremendous effort by a great group of people headed by John Shirreffs,” he said.
Shirreffs has been handed a horse shot through with greatness and the trick has been to let that unseen but magical quality grow in its own time. "On any given day a horse can not have a great day,” Moss explained. “But she gets so much room from John - room to improve, room to not, perhaps, do her best work on a certain day. But nothing is serious around her; everybody is having a good time with her, there's no nervousness, and there's no pressure. And it's up to her to do this performance, as long as she's having fun we'll continue doing this. She is one professional racehorse; she steps up, it seems, whenever she should.”
The professional side of racing said that last year’s victory in the Classic at Santa Anita – the first filly or mare to win the race - was the moment to bow at the top and Zenyatta went into one of the briefest retirements in sporting history. There had even been a retirement party on the track of her local track at Hollywood Park a couple of weeks after she had won the Classic. It was a big affair, with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attending, only to find himself booed by many of the 9,814 crowd who had turned up for the meeting. Which just goes to show that popularity does not always rub off because the attendance was 12% up on the same meeting the previous year.
But it was in a private moment just days before Zenyatta was due to travel to Kentuvky to begin a new life as a broodmare when Moss decided that the chance to race a horse like this may never come again. "Well, I made an emotional decision because I was so taken by that race. I said, my God, how can I ask her to do anything else? And, of course, I didn't get a chance to talk to my wife about that; I didn't get a chance to talk to my trainer; I didn't talk to my racing manager [Dottie Ingordo, who also is married to John Shirreffs] - who were a bit grumpy with me at the end of this thing, saying: 'We're Team Zenyatta and you made a decision.' Well, I said I feel strongly about that because what else can we ask her to do? And they all agreed with me on that - what else can we ask her to do? She won an historic race in an historic fashion.
"So after a while I looked at my wife and said 'Do you think John would like to keep training this horse to have her run another year?' She said: 'I think we should ask John that question. So we had dinner with John and Dottie after we went to see the horse one time and they said 'Yeah! We think she can go around again. This is a racehorse that's not done yet. We don't think she's done yet.' So, I said all right, then let's un-retire her - no big deal.”
Del Mar might politely disagree because they are making a very big deal of what may be Zenyatta’s last run in California. After that there is likely to be one more run and then a final showdown with anyone who wants to challenge her for the Classic.
If the script stays the same that would mean an unbeaten 20-race career and there has to be a good chance.
After all every little thing she does is magic.
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