HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE TO EVERYONE!
Today is a FUN DAY! I usually go out to the paddock at about 7 in the morning. Now the ground is a bit snowy…and even a bit muddy in spots. When I first get turned out, I really play and run hard. It is fun to stretch my legs and all after a night’s rest. I have started to do this new thing…for me…and that is roll on my back on the ground. I did it in the snow the other day. Dottie teased me that I was making Zenyatta Snow Angels. Then yesterday…it was a bit muddy and I was able to roll in the mud! I have NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE that I can remember. It was GREAT FUN!
Sarah is going to try and get to Lane’s End early to get some footage of me doing this for you. It will be on FACEBOOK. Janie, you do not have to be a FACEBOOK member to go to ‘my’ FACEBOOK page. On the opening page of my Zenyatta.com site, there is a FACEBOOK SYMBOL in the upper right hand portion. Just hit this…and it will take you to my page…and my page only. Then hit WALL…and there you are! We put this here especially for people who are not on Facebook. This way, everyone can still follow my escapades and keep in touch!
Last night, I got to TANGO with John and Dottie right before I went to sleep. This morning, BARN 55 is going to TANGO with me right after training. I can’t wait to visit with all of them again! Ann and Jerry will call later in the morning as well. I LOVE THIS! I CAN PERSONALLY WISH ALL OF MY CA FAMILY…HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE and HAPPY 2011! WHAT FUN!
I have so much to be grateful for at this time…and reflecting on 2010…I do realize what a fortunate horse I am.
I totally appreciate ALL who have cared for me and loved me…EVERY STEP OF MY JOURNEY. It was not always easy…even though my TEAM made it look that way. I love each and every one of YOU…and deeply appreciate the time, love, care and respect you have shown me every single moment of my life.
As for my wonderful, wonderful FANS, what can I say? I have been blessed. I have tried very hard to do my best and add honor, dignity and LOTS of FUN to my sport! You have cheered me on, supported me, and wished me well. I have had fun meeting you and watching you have a great time. It was wonderful to see people from all over the country fly in to meet me. I also loved the fact that so many of YOU have made friends with each other…and are now bonding, going to different racing venues together, and sharing the beauty of THIS SPORT.
IT HAS BEEN AN ABSOLUTE HONOR TO SHARE MY LIFE, MY CAREER AND MY ADVENTURES WITH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!
Some of you have asked how I’m spending New Year’s Eve. Well, my girlfriends and I will be outside playing for a bit…then come in and have a great dinner…toast with a bit of Guinness…and visit. Usually about 7 in the evening, we are all ready to relax and have ‘lights out’.
After all, we really need our BEAUTY SLEEP tonight. January 1st is our ‘joint’ birthday! Each of us will turn a year older tomorrow morning. I’ll be ‘technically’ 7! Good thing I exercise and keep in shape!
May we all be blessed to have a wonderful NEW YEAR ahead of us…filled with lots of GOOD HEALTH, HAPPINESS, AND NEW ADVENTURES!
I know in 2011, I will definitely have many ‘new things’ going on! I’m so excited! I hope to be able to share all of them with YOU!
One more thing…PLEASE BE SAFE tonight and always!
With Love,
Hugs to all~
Z
Denise Babjack
Happy New Year, Queen Zen!:) Have a safe, healthy, and relaxed 2011! I’ll drink a toast to you at midnight, that is if I’m still awake!!! xoxoxoxo
Nancy
Hey Zenny
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Day to all of your BBF’s in
your beautiful high end barn at Lanes End. It is truly the most beautiful
Farm. Love Sophie Sherriffs picture. Hope she got out to the track. Love those videos on Facebook. The one of you and Charles “lovin” on each other is so special. It really shows how much caring human contact you have had. I think Mario taught him the neck scratch you like so much. I don’t thinks Dynaformer is a good choice for you. He
is not very kind or professional when he breed. He is too big and the
leg issues in his offspring are very concerning. I hear AP Indy is quite the gentleman with good size for you great conformation and impeccable lineage. Hope he passes the fertility tests. It so funny to read the comment of non horse people in the video of handsome Todd
walking you on the road around the cars. I watched with my breath held. When you lifted your head and turned to look at the cars, I could just see my 17 hand thorougbred spook. And of course you did not. Great girl. Very risky walk to get you used to road and cars. One thing you learn first when you walk horses is to walk in front and do not look at them. You are IN CHARGE as the handler. Talkin and feeding a horse while you walk them in that situation is not a good idea. Everything relaxes when you graze. That is the sign you are comfortable. Todd did a great job. I looked back on quite a few videos in CA and a lip chain was used by all Team Z members at various times so normal for a very strong fit champion race horse. I liked the comment if you got away you would probably run all the way to Santa Anita. Your diary lifts my spirit everyday. I love your barn Kitty. He is sooo cute and sweet. It has been a wonderful 2010 watching your last
racing year. Look forward to all the surprises in 2011. Have a warm and cozy night and a wonderful run and roll in the snow and mud. Since it is sooooo cold no bath lots of brushing to get all the dried mud off. What a big job!!!!!! Have fun !!!!!!!
Mary Alice Kier
HAPPY NEW Year Zenyatta (as well as Happy Birthday) and Team Zenyatta for a great and unforgettable year in racing…thanks for the memories as they will always be treasured!!
Lisa in Coorado
Beautiful Zenyatta: Happy New Year and Happy Jan 1 Birthday!!! What an amazing, beautiful and articulate girl you are. Thank you for keeping us to do date with your activites. Life sounds good. I so hope to get to meet you this year at Lane’s End. You are so very loved,and your fans are so thankful to your connections for letting us know you. We all want the best for you always.
2011 and no Z on the track. It is hard to imagine. Your presence is huge. Hopefully, you have changed the sport by making the industry realize how the fans need their stars. Of course, you are a star among stars….A one of a king girl. A Queen above the Kings…
Thank you for being a part of all of our lives.
sue w
Happy New Year, Zenny! What FUN to gallop, run and roll in the mud. You deserve every bit of it.
For those who are afraid LE may not allow us to visit Zenny…Mr Farish specifically mentioned in an interview in early Dec. that arrangements would be made but not for a few months. They are giving her time to FULLY settle in. I doubt these plans have changed. We just need a bit of patience. ;-) In that interview he mentioned how they would gradually let her out in the paddock. First with one horse then add another and so on… They seem to be right on track.
How wonderful that our Queen can cyber visit with all her CA pals. And, I know the Mosses ae thrilled to be able to keep in such direct contact with her daily. Talk about a team from heaven…she surely has one.
Alex Bowdoin
Dear Zenyatta,
Happy New Year! I also wish Team Z in California and Team Z in kentucky a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year! I hope you enjoyed your Guiness as much as I enjoyed my Mai Tai’s this New Years Eve….May 2011 be a Great Year! Lots of Love, Alex in MA
Joyce
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Queen Z. Enjoy your Guiness toast, mints and carrots. I really can’t wait to see the video (I still watch the Bloodhorse video and the one of you dancing to your song)of you rolling in the snow and mud, I know that is truely fun for you, especially right after a bath. My horses couldn’t wait to get in the mud after a bath!! They would roll and roll, get up with mud flying, buck a few times and look at me and squeal with delight!! I am sure that’s what you did too! I’m glad you had a nice mud facial for your birthday. I pray that I can see you in 2011, you live not to far from Keeneland, maybe they can take you to Keeneland for a Queen Z Day!!! I hope they don’t breed you to Street Cry, he’s your popa!!! Sleep tight and stay warm sweet girl. Happy Birthday to you, PQ, and all you girlfriends in the barn!!!
Ensign
@ NANCY above,
Zenyatta wouldn’t be bred to Dynaformer this year as he DOESN’T breed maidens. He doesn’t have ‘leg issues’ with his offspring. On the contrary, he’s considered a sire of very sound horses.
ALL stallions will have some offspring who break down, it’s the law of averages.
sue w
One more thing, Zenny…you surely have made Charles quite a star!
Karen Line
Happy HAPPY New Year to you, Zenny!!!
Thanks to YOU and to Team Zenyatta for the joy and thrills you gave us all, and for allowing our love and belief in you to become part of a collective family. We all care for and appreciate you do much!
And we want to come and visit you in 2011! Let us know as soon as you can when Lane’s End will schedule visit times. It will be a tremendous joy to see you and let you know how extraordinary we all think you are!!!
Much love to you beautiful and special girl, Zenyatta!!
Cate
Charles is looking good these days ! Happy New Year Zenyatta. In a tough year, you were my bright spot. You bought me so much joy. Happy New Year to you & Team Z
& Lane’s End.
Tracy K
Happy New Year Zenyatta & Family! I can’t wait to get home from work each night to read your posts. So happy to hear you’re having fun. I have a question about your babies. Will the Moss’s own all of your babies? I wasn’t sure if the stallion’s owners or the farm has any ownership.
In this new year I plan to see my first horse race at either Suffolk Downs or Saratoga. I never would have thought to do that if it weren’t for you Zenyatta. I’d also like to help retired race horses live out their retirement in peace. I read the story about Dyna King, a half brother of Barbaro, who was found abandoned and near death right before Christmas in Arizona. It was heartbreaking but thank goodness he is now in safe hands at a rescue.
Janie
Thank you, sweet Zenyatta, for answering me about Facebook. I have clicked on the symbol and looked at your videos – what a cutie pie you are! Now I won’t miss a thing. Happy New Year to you and your wonderful team, both in Kentucky and L.A. – and happy birthday (#1 of the year) to you, too. Love you!
Darlene
Happy New Year to Team Zenyatta and thank you for opening up Barn 55 during the year to visitors like me. Whenever I was feeling down, I would call my friend Michelle and ask if I could come and see you. I always left smiling and happy. Thank you John for making Zenyatta available to the public and for training her the “right way”. Thank you Dottie for this wonderful blog….I only met you once, but you were adorable. And thank you to the Mosses for sharing your wonderful girl with us. Love to Mario, Carmen and Steve at HP….Happy 2011!!!!
Kbuckeye
Dear, dear Zenyatta…it was because of you that I went to the Breeder’s Cup. And then to meet you—it moved me as much as meeting Secretariat. You and your team have done so much for racing. Please know the fans think you all are number one!!!! It makes me so happy to hear about your new life. Lane’s End is a wonderful place…..I saw it for the first time at the Open House after the Breeder’s Cup. So glad you had fun rolling in the snow and mud. Happy New Year to you, dear Zenyatta, your team, and the nice folks at Lane’s End!
jo
Happy Birthday Zenny!!! Toast to you and the girls Love you Bye
Dawn Conrad
Happy Birthday, Zenyatta!!! Here’s a toast (with Guiness of course) to a wonderful New Year. What wonders does it hold? They say that what you give to others comes back 10 fold. There is no way to measure what you and Team Z have given all of us. Dancing and diaries, mischief and magnificence, peppermints and pictures, grace and goodness, charity and cheer, days of CA sunshine and Ky endings and beginnings, hugs and kisses, smiles and tears, heartstopping moments of racing brilliance and simple heart to heart moments with individual souls who will never forget what it meant to gaze into your eyes and place a hand upon your dappled side, you have done it all and we have been so blessed to be part of it. Zenny, I wish you and Ann and Jerry and John and Dottie and Mario and Carmen and Mike (we miss seeing you with Z) and everyone at Lane’s End best wishes for the coming year. May we all receive God’s grace for a happy, healthy, prosperous and joyful 2011.
Cindy – My prayers and thoughts are with you and all of the thousands of men and women who have suffered cancer. My greatest wish for this New Year would be to see it’s end.
Sue Ann – I am so sorry for your lose, may the memories of your Pebbles be forever sweet.
Love to all and peace on earth.
Jennifer Adelman
Dear Zenyatta…..Dear sweet Zinny!!! My son is in germany a captain who just wiped out in his audi going down a steep road thank god his audi saved his life..Mother could never be more happy bless my child is safe11111
NorCalFan#1
Just wanted to add my best wishes for a blessed New Year to you and all who care for and love you the world over! It’s been OUR privilege, dear girl, that you have shared your life, your career, and your adventures with each and every one of us through Dottie, John, and everyone around you. Mike is so right–you are heaven-sent! P.S. Happy Birthday! And to everyone, get home safely!
Jess
So happy you’ll be spending New Years with your family!!! I love, love, love you Zenyatta. Jess
Lynne
Darling Zenyatta
Happy New Year to you and team Z., and all the wonderful people who look after you and Lane’s End
Happy Birthday also
Your friend Lynne
Marty
Happy New Year Zenny!!!! Happy Birthday to you and of your gal pals…. Don’t drink too much Guinness!!!!
linda
Tonight as we said our blessings over dinner my grandchildren and I named things we were thankful for in 2010. I, of course, listed our trip to Louisville to see you on the occasion of our 40th anniversary. We saw you on our back track tour and then later outside your barn. It was truly the best trip ever. You were magnificent in the Breeders’ Cup and there was not a horse on that track that could have done what you did. You have taken us all on the ride of our lives. Thank you to you and all those who helped you achieve greatness. They have set a wonderful example of what racing can be.
Grandma Bea Gobee
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Zenyatta, you look awesome in the photo of you & Charles.
Hugs from Grandma Bea & my 3 kitties
Carole Cole
Happy New Year, Zenyatta AND Happy Birthday! THank you for a special year. You added so much to my life’s excitement and travel. ANd now that you’ve entered a new career, I will happily follow you throughout and wish you health and great success once again! Have fun rolling and playing…..my horses love to do the same thing. So much fun! ENJOY!
Sandra Bennington
HAPPY NEW YEAR ZENYATTA!!!!
I want to thank all the people that take such good care of you here in Calif. and at you new home a lanes end. They are sooo lucky to be part of your life!! It is an honor & a pleasure to be part of your life now with your wonderful daily Diary. I get tears in my eyes every time I read it and play your videos over & over again. I love your so much!! You give me soo much happiness. I wish you a wonderful new year with all the hapiness you deserve. I pray GOD will look after you and Bless you!!
emmy
@Ensign…..Thanks for all the knowledgeable comments on the breeding issues of thoroughbreds!!! Do you work in the industry? I sense that most of these correspondents are craving knowledge about the horses’ lives and the people who train and care for them! Keep the info coming,please!
Barbara Sanders
Well, you did it Zen! I was just watching CNN’s year end wrap up of the best and the worst of 2010 and there you were. “THE BEST IN SPORTS”. You got it girl! They didn’t say ” Congrats to You Know Who for beating the great Zenyatta in the last one of her twenty races.” Nope! They didn’t even mention You Know Who. They gave YOU the accolade that you so well deserve. The place that you won in hearts all over the world is still intact. Rest well in your stall this last day of an unbelievable year, and have an extra Guinness on us (after all it IS New Years Eve.) for you are STILL the Unbelievable Zenyatta in the eyes of the world.
emmy
@Mary Bobolis….I posted an answer to your request for info about blanketing a horse on Diary entry #41….hope that helps you understand why Z.is outside without a blanket.@Ensign…do they keep these mares under lights to help them begin to cycle earlier in the spring than Ma Nature would have them do?
Julie DuVall
Happy New Year to one and all! And happy “official” birthday to all the horses at Lane’s End, Barn 55 and elsewhere. It’s always exciting when the race conditions change from “3-year-olds and up” to “4-year-olds and up.” And thank you, Dottie and Zenny for these updates. I think it’s important for people to see that you are enjoying just being a horse and transitioning from track to farm life.
I do have one question: if, for some reason, you turn out to be infertile, what will you do? The great mare Genuine Risk had a very hard time getting in foal and only had two in her whole life, and the great stallion Cigar was sterile, so it can happen, although it’s not likely. Would you remain at Lane’s End? Go to the Kentucky Horse Park? Or end up in Ann Moss’ backyard after all? Or maybe even take some “dance lessons” and try dressage?