Zenyatta, the undefeated superstar mare who was retired following her spectacular last-to-first record-setting victory versus males in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last month (Zenyatta Breeders’ Cup video highlights), will make her final race-day appearance at Santa Anita on opening day of the 2009-10 winter/spring meet, Dec. 26.
Following her farewell appearance, Zenyatta will be shipped to Kentucky to begin her new career as one of the world’s most highly sought broodmares. All fans in attendance will receive a full-color poster of Zenyatta, courtesy of HRTV and will be treated to a winner’s circle ceremony honoring the great mare, which will be emceed by HRTV’s Kurt Hoover.
Zenyatta, owned by Jerry and Ann Moss and trained by John Shirreffs, has one more challenging head-to-head competition, this one off the track for 2009 Horse of the Year honors against 3-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra.
“We are thrilled and very honored to have Zenyatta return here to Santa Anita one final time,” said Santa Anita President Ron Charles. “This will be great for all of our fans as well. What she accomplished here in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is something that none of us who witnessed it will ever forget and to have her with us as we celebrate our 75th anniversary is very special.
“On behalf of everyone here, we want to thank Jerry and Ann for allowing all of us to get close to her and to enjoy Zenyatta this one last time. For her to be able to return to the scene of one of the greatest moments in the history of American racing is something that I think everyone is going to cherish.”
Zenyatta, who retired with a perfect 14 for 14 race record, won a total of five races at Santa Anita, all of them stakes. In just the third start of her career, she stormed to victory in the Gr. II El Encino Stakes on Jan. 13, 2008.
On Sept. 27, 2008, she won the Gr. I Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting, which set up her huge victory in the Gr. I, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic at Oak Tree on Oct. 24, and thus ensured her Older Filly or Mare Eclipse Award honors for 2008.
Zenyatta again won Oak Tree’s Gr. I Lady’s Secret this year, on Oct. 10. She would use that as a springboard to immortality, as she faced the boys and tried a mile and a quarter for the first time in the Classic on Nov. 7. This electrifying performance is regarded by many as the greatest moment in Breeders’ Cup history and perhaps the most dramatic moment in the storied 75-year history of Santa Anita.
Along with the Mosses, Zenyatta will be accompanied on opening day by Shirreffs and his wife and racing manager Dorothy, regular rider, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, exercise rider Steve Willard, and her husband and wife groom and hotwalking team of Mario Espinoza and Carmen Zamora.
In addition to the Zenyatta poster, fans attending will also receive Santa Anita’s traditional wall calendar, which this year will feature dramatic photos chronicling some of the greatest moments of the past 75 years.
A new historic marker summarizing the most notable aspects of Santa Anita Park in its first 75 years will also be available for public viewing for the first time on opening day following an invitation-only VIP dedication ceremony and unveiling at 8:30 a.m.
First post time on opening day is 11:30 a.m., with the Gr. I, $300,000 Malibu
Stakes for 3-year-olds highlighting a 10-race program.