Zenyatta fans turn out for one last look at superstar
Zenyatta fans turn out for one last look at superstar
duties as ambassador for racing while greeting one of her smaller fans
(Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs)
Jerry and Ann Moss' ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) didn't know, and her
fans didn't care, that their beloved mare had lost the Breeders' Cup
Classic (G1) on Saturday. They still turned out in droves on Sunday
morning.
Trainer John Shirreffs took down the barricades that had lined Barn
41 all week and allowed media and fans to get up close and personal with
the great mare, who now owns a 19-1 record. Those who couldn't
gain access to the Churchill Downs backstretch lined the fence along Longfield Avenue and looked in as Zenyatta grazed grass in between
stopping and posing for pictures. Shirreffs was still clearly disappointed on Sunday, but obviously
very proud of Zenyatta, who came out of her race "very well." When asked
if he had watched the replay, he replied, "Well, maybe later. It was her
last race. It's all over. Why watch it again. "She'll go back to California," Shirreffs continued. "She'll be there
for about a month. That's the thing about horse racing. As a trainer you
have to learn to let go. Heck, she's been a champion for three years and
she's going to a great place." When asked what he said to jockey Mike Smith after the race, Shirreffs
replied, "What could I say? I just patted him on the shoulder. He was
devastated.
Zenyatta continued her
"It's unfortunate that she drops so far back. There were two groups
in that race -- the lead group and another group about three lengths behind that
group. It left her too much to do. You always have that hope that she'll get
there when you see her lower her head and start stretching out."
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Shirreffs said that his best memory of his experience with Zenyatta has been the fans and the love and support they have shown and that he hopes that racing finds a way to allow more people access to the horses as a way of building on her legacy.
"The big thing the sport needs to do is let fans get closer to the horses," Shirreffs said. "I don't know how you do it because some horses don't allow it, but when you have horses like Zenyatta that do, it's important to let the fans share that. "The thing is when people just watch races on television, you don't get a feel for the Thoroughbred. As a trainer, I like for people to come out and see them up close. How often do people get a chance to get close to a horse like Zenyatta? It has to be very special for them. "It's been a fairy tale and you want all fairy tales to come true," Shirreffs concluded.
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The Mosses, Shirreffs and his wife, Dottie Ingordo, were scheduled to leave
Louisville, Kentucky, and return to California Sunday afternoon. Zenyatta was to
return to California on a Tex Sutton chartered flight on the same day.
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