Zenyatta fan Colleen Carr at Hollywood Park for Zenyatta Day
Today was Zenyatta Day at Hollywood Park, and Colleen Carr of Temecula, Calif., arrived sporting a homemade replica of the now-famous aqua and pink silks worn by Zenyatta's jockey Mike Smith for owners Ann and Jerry Moss.
She was one of thousands of exuberant fans that traveled from far and wide to be part of the celebration honoring the great mare, winner of the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic and unbeaten in 14 career starts.
Fans young and old were there to see Zenyatta as she made her final public appearance at the Inglewood track that has been her home base. They received a special edition DVD, "Zenyatta: A Living Legend," along with a "Go Zenyatta" poster, and were treated to a special appearance by Zenyatta as she galloped down the home stretch and made her way into the winners' circle one last time.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was a special guest, congratulating Zenyatta's connections and presenting a bronze California bear to the Mosses -- an award given for Outstanding Achievement. Also in the winners' circle were the members of "Team Zenyatta," including Smith, groom Mario Espinoza and his wife, Carmen (who is also Zenyatta's hotwalker), Shirreff's wife and racing manager for the Mosses, Dottie Ingordo, and exercise rider Steve Willard, who rode Zenyatta down the stretch and into the winners' circle.
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5 comments:
Will miss Zenyatta on the track, but she deserves a great life after racing. What a beauty she is and such an inspiration to everyone.
Wish Zenyatta and her connections the very best and she will always be the greatest.
It was another incredible racing event- the crowd was huge and people seemed deeply moved.
An amazing event and the crowd @ Hollywood Park
went crazy showing their love for Zenyatta!!!
It was ALL CHEERS for the great Champion...
while it was ALL JEERS for the "Governator."
Zenyatta looked absolutely beautiful on her day. It was a beautiful ceremony and watching the love in people's eyes was great. I'm hoping to go to Kentucky next Spring and hope to see her wherever she is. It would be one of the highlights of my entire life if I got to see her.
Zenny is one "tuned in" horse. During this ceremony, when Steve W. was riding her around, she didn't really dance or paw. But when Mike got in her sights and got up on her - she started to paw! You could see with Steve that she felt relatively relaxed from the taper-down ... and with Mike it was like "OH! Really???? ... well let's DO something then!" Love this girl. Pam from NJ.
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