Zenyatta Chapter 2

[Derby2004]

During Zenyattas racing career, everytime she prepped for a race or she stepped a hoof in the starting gate, the world was on pins and needles with anticipation of whats going to happen next. Full of excitedness and fear all at the same time made for a buffet of mixed emotions. Keeping my fingers crossed and holding my breath were rituals before and during each of her races. When running in the Classic this year, if you gasped at the beginning of the race when she tailed off to dead last by many lengths after the start, raise your hand. No one expected her to do that with the best horses in the world. For a short moment, Barbaro popped in my head and I forgot about the race. But once she started gaining ground and right before I passed out from lack of oxygen, I breathed a sigh of relief. Now that her racing career is done, a new excitement has come over me, waiting for her babies to race. If anybody knew anything about horses or racing, when Nicanor and Lentanor hit the track, they kept an eye on them, with hopes that shadows of Barbaro would be seen. Zenyatta has fans around the globe and is comparable to todays major sports athletes as far as popularity. So now the waiting game begins, but in 2014, we all hope to see a champion emerge whose mother was one of the greatest of all time. Im really hoping that someone will put together a web site and put pictures in monthly of Zenyatta from her pregnancy all the way to the foals racing career kicks off.

[LB]

This one may do it for you: http://www.zenyatta.com/

Check out her Diary for frequent updates, including a picture of her grazing in the snow today.

[Toccet02]

Yeah . . .but somehow I don't associate Queen Z with the peppy chirpy tone of those diary posts . . .

[Bast]

I hope that Zenyatta's progeny will have the opportunity to develop as individuals, and not be counted as disappointments if they fail to match up to the expectations heaped upon them.

The hard genetic truth is that there is a tendency for the exceptional to regress back towards the norm--so if Zenyatta's kids "only" win a stakes race here or there, it should be kept in mind that that is still well above average.

My hope is that she will leave several daughters who will be great producers.

[Lisann]

Based on how things have gone so far, I'd say we'll get far more frequent than monthly photos.

[Jessi P]

Yeah, a bit chirpy, but nice all the same.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I still wonder why she used to paw the ground before races.

[ElPrado]

Horses are creatures of habit, and she was allowed to develop the habit.
I had one mare that would stretch like a dog with the forelegs out and the head near the ground when she was saddled. I think she was making sure the saddle was comfortable. She was doing it before I got her, too.

[Shammy Davis]

On HRTV this morning, they showed some of Barbara Livingston's recent photographs at stud. A couple of them showed Z pawing, just as she did at the track.

ElPrado is right, horses are creatures of habit. Once allowed to do something, they will repeat it.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Interesting.

I may not know much at this point, but on YouTube many of the comments following Zenyatta videos ran something along the lines of, 'She's doing it because she's tying up and in pain.'

Remembering Life At Ten's performance in the BC, that can't be it, right? Zenyatta runs like a train.

I hope she enjoys being a mom.

[skywatcher]

if the person from the youtube videos was talking about her pre-race dancing, then it definately was not tying-up or being in pain...if there was any possibility of THAT a track vet or someone would have dealt with it ages ago... Mike Smith has been quoted saying the prancing is her warming herself up...seems as good an explanation to me as any

[Bast]

Yeah, a bit chirpy, but nice all the same.

It's chirpy, but much of it is valuable in instructing people who don't know much about horses or racing. New fans are largely left on their own.

[Bast]

if the person from the youtube videos was talking about her pre-race dancing, then it definately was not tying-up or being in pain...if there was any possibility of THAT a track vet or someone would have dealt with it ages ago... Mike Smith has been quoted saying the prancing is her warming herself up...seems as good an explanation to me as any

I suspect her dancing is an expression of her tension of being held back from what she wants to do--run. The video of her being led in hand in a pasture looks to me like a horse who really, really wants to be loose and running around, but who behaves too well to do more than dance.

Once she is turned out daily, I suspect the tension will vanish quickly.

I also think she enjoyed some measure of attention from people.

[Joltman]

don't know if this was posted elsewhere, but it's fun

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/breedi ... s-end.aspx

[LB]

don't know if this was posted elsewhere, but it's fun

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/breedi ... s-end.aspx

The song that plays with that video is great! I wonder who wrote it.