And The Award Goes to....

The last week has just been full of award ceremonies, some you know and some you may not have known about...

I'm starting off with the Golden Globes and the attention for the HBO Movie, Temple Grandin. If you haven't seen it, you so totally should. I mentioned it last February in my post "I'll Take One In Every Color, Please..."; the story of an Autistic woman who becomes an animal scientist. I don't think I'll be spoiling the movie for you because it's not any big secret that she invented a humane system to calm cattle headed to slaughter. The movie about her life & work is simply amazing. It gives you a captivating look into how Dr. Grandin's mind works and how she came to adopt the (not then) retro cowgirl shirt look as her "uniform".

So Monica Bretherton & I were shopping for items to use in her upcoming Winter Sparkle project of taking some very Western-a-fied photos of SAFE horses to expand their portfolios in hopes of attracting some potential adopters who might want to take them in a Western Direction (as in riding discipline, not necessarily the compass point!).

While at Country Square Western Wear we found several "Blingy" shirts that would be perfect for the shoot & I was calling them "Temple Grandin" shirts. One shirt in particular made a huge impression on Monica, so much so that she carried it around for quite awhile. Can you imagine her excitement while watching the Golden Globe Awards and actually seeing Dr. Grandin wearing that exact same shirt?!?!?!?

From the red carpet of the Golden Globes

For the WIN Collumn: Dr. Temple Grandin for just being an advocate for animals, Claire Danes who won Best Actress in a TV Movie for her portrayal of Dr. Grandin and Country Square who donated the use of three shirts, blingy belts and jewelry for the upcoming shoot.

Thank you Country Square, btw, your support of SAFE helping horses in need touches my heart...and if you're looking for BEAUTIFUL western wear, please go see the very nice staff there ...and tell them I sent you!! (also...to my other friends with major boot addictions...this is boot heaven!!!!)

The following night were the Eclipse Awards broad casted live on TVG...which thankfully we get during football season when Les upgrades to the sports package!! While it didn't have the showmanship of the Golden Globes, overall, I was much more interested in the categories and winners of this lesser known event. It's big in my world but your average person might think it has more to do with the Twilight series than horse racing. And even some of my equestrian friends may not know about it or it's significance. So it's like the Oscars of horse racing and Zenyatta has been the subject of much anticipation and speculation in regards to this years award for Horse of the Year.

There were some who thought Blame should get the big award after his Breeders Cup (very close) victory over the Super-Mare but there was quite a lot of fan campaigning for Zenyatta. If nothing else, she was winning the public opinion poll...whether the voters from the Daily Racing Forum agreed remained to be seen, but I still had the Hollywood Park crowds chanting "Zenyatta, Horse of the Year!!"  in my head. I couldn't be derailed in my total belief that she'd win.

From the paddock at Hollywood Park during Zenyatta's farewell party

Among the honors was a Special Eclipse Award given to Team Zenyatta for their " unfailing generosity of her connections..." and " ... for making Zenyatta so accessible to the public during her encore year in 2010." according to the DRF website. Next Came The "Older Female" Award, which went to Zenyatta and I was hoping that was an indicator that she was also going to win the Horse of the Year award and not some lower crown title (as happens to those kids on Toddlers & Tiara's who don't win the Grand Supreme titles...and yes, I admit it's somewhat of an addicting train wreck that I just can't stop watching!) as a consolation. I kept my fingers crossed...and then Blame won the Older Male...so there they were, neck and neck, just like the Breeders Cup Classic...but this time ZENYATTA won!!!!!

As if the award was not wonderful enough, her owner, Jerry Moss gave a beautiful speech in thanks. He mentioned the other horses and how great they were & thanked his own team for their roles. Then he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket: a clipping from the 2011 In The Presence of Champions Calendar put out by Tranquility Farm, a Thoroughbred Retirement, Rehabilitation & Adoption center, written by Priscilla Clark, it's President:

"If you love Thoroughbred horses you go through life hoping that you can see just one more in whose presence the clouds fall away to reveal the mountaintop. It can take a generation or infinitely longer for such a horse to arrive, a horse that is capable of carrying the human heart. For the last one hundred years we know them all by name, but Zenyatta brought to us a beauty that was a tonic for the soul. She allowed us to believe in the impossible, and it was the light of her being as much as the thrill of her races that got us dancing. Zenyatta was transformative."

 Just before he read that he also mentioned that Tranquility Farm is one of the many great programs for retired race horses & further endorsed " We all have to really contribute and help these people because they do the most important job of retiring Thoroughbred horses once they're finished at the race track."

My heart got so full it spilled from my eyes. Although he wasn't speaking directly to me, he was supporting the very thing I feel to the core of my being....that we owe it to these athletes to take care of them, regardless if they win multi-millions or maybe never make it to the track. The simple fact that they're bred for racing, even the chance of racing, makes it the responsibility of every breeder, trainer, owner, vet, farrier, jockey & groom....anyone who makes their living from racing...and lets throw in the racing fans, the tracks & the folks who are on the entertainment side of this as well...each one of us has a responsibility to those horses.

And one other important mention from the Eclipse Awards: Marylou Whitney when receiving an Eclipse Award of Merit, told the racing community that “We have to try more to improve their lives and advance their dignity,” and “As owners, you should be accountable for horses from the beginning of their lives to the end.” I hear from folks who don't like the racing industry for various reasons but I am not ashamed to say that I LOVE the sport and there are some truly amazing folks in it.

So into the WIN Collumn: Zenyatta, Team Zenyatta, Marylou Whitney, Priscilla Clark & Tranquility Farm and Horses!

And my final award subject ....is actually MY Award!!!

On a much smaller level & venue, Maeve & I attended the award banquet for the Equestrians' Institute this evening in Bellevue.The night belonged to riders and drivers who achieved outstanding results last year and along side them,  I was among the many volunteers that E.I. honored for their service at those events. Some of you might remember my posts: Dressage Days and Home of the Brave...In The Rain!  about my adventures in dressage & being a Ring Steward for E.I.

So tonight I received a beautiful etched glass(with my name spelled right even...impressive!) stating that I was a 2010 Dressage Volunteer Extraordinaire. I am both proud and honored!

The best take away, however, was the inspiration to get back out there and work with my horse...and perhaps to take advantage of some of the 2011 events that the Equestrians' Institute has planned including some events at the new Washington State Horse Park!

And the final add to the WIN Collumn: Me & my fancy new glass, Maeve who was likewise inspired, the Equestrians' Institute, all of the amazing equestrians who get out there and DO SOMETHING with their horses & Coconut who seems to like goals.

Yes, it's been an Awarding Week, in deed!

Frequent Flyer Miles

Since I fly free on stand-by I can sometimes get myself to some pretty awesome events. I especially love it when an awesome event out of town happens to be taking place while I've already planned to be there.

So goes this weekend adventure...

We have been planning a trip to Disneyland to meet up with some of our family that lives in Southern California as a fun way to kick off the holidays. We opted for going to the Disney Parks Friday & Saturday leaving Sunday the 5th open to hang out and get ourselves home.

Last week I saw a post from Zenyatta (yea, we're "friends") saying that there was going to be a farewell event for her at Hollywood Park on the 5th...PERFECT! Les quickly agreed and changed our departing city to LAX!

I used to work at LAX and had to pass the park many times on my way to the DMV and it always struck me that here was this racing icon in the middle of a neighborhood (Inglewood) that probably cared very little for the happenings within it's fences or that some amazing horses resided there. What a shame...

The track is old and not what I would call pretty. I have to say, I am a bit spoiled by the Emerald Downs track. Not only is is clean and pretty, but it's enjoyable. They try hard to make themselves a destination for fun (without a casino I might add!) and perhaps it's got something to do with the age difference but I just found the track to be ....well....old! nothing special, not even anything really update as far as I could see. Even the paddock was dirt. Certainly not Churchill Downs or Emerald Downs....and NOT my favorite....Keeneland!

So we got to the track and took a look around and found ourselves in almost a ghost-land as I made my way all the way up to the rail....an odd perspective actually, the actual track is practically at eye level.


The first race we got to see was Race #3 and the winner was #1 - Free Pourin, trained by Bob Baffert. Where we were standing we could see his distinctive white hair and sunglasses in the winner's circle and then started the clapping as they announced the milestone that Mr. Baffert had just hit a significant milestone with his 2,000th Win! Wow!! that was unexpected.


We watched another race but I decided to go and take my place at the Paddock to wait the two races until they brought out Zenyatta...because SHE was the whole reason for my visit that day...and I was not alone!!

There was Zenyatta memorabilia to be had at a tent beside the paddock. For $15 I could have had a Zenyatta giclee or a beer stein. I don't know what's up with me and beer steins and although I didn't get one, I did contemplate it briefly & I don't even drink beer!

A couple of organizations that work with post-racing Thoroughbreds were also in attendance:

Training Thoroughbreds Off The Track (TROTT) was there selling tshirts and talking about racehorse retraining and adoption as well as The Second Race who was holding a raffle for a framed print of Zenyatta....both there to raise awareness and possibly funds to help other ex-race horses in the LA area. I don't know much about either organization and I always caution anyone to please check out any organization before you donate but wanting to help Thoroughbreds is something I feel very close to heart (ya know...those TB shaped hoof prints across mine!)

Mike Smith, Zenyatta's primary jockey, was also on hand to sign autographs but I knew I would not have a chance behind the 300+ folks already in line vs the 30 minutes he had between a couple of races so I didn't even try but he did pass by me on his way to the autograph station...


...and finally the moment we all crowded the rail for...

Her groom, Mario Espinoza, brought Zenyatta into the paddock and walked her around several times so that we could all get a good look at her.





She was spectacular...we didn't get a lot of her "dance" but you can see that she did give us a tiny little hint of it.

Mario then took her up to the track and walked her back and forth out there as well. I could hear the roar of the crowd as I made my way back over to the area above the winner's circle. They they had a bit of fan-fare and celebration...calling her the Best Racing Mare EVER!!!

The fans were there in force! Les says he talked to someone who said that the track usually isn't this busy...this is all for Zenyatta. I even saw a grown man with tears in his eyes. I do believe that for most of us there, we felt like we'd seen a rare glimpse of greatness. Zenyatta does that to people.


Even the guys in the TVG announcer booth were impressed

After she left the track, I didn't see much point in staying so Les & I watched one more race and headed to the airport for our trip back to Seattle. I am extremely honored to have been able to attend her send-off. As it turns out they wasted no time in getting her on her way to her next job as "a Mom", as the track announcer said...this evening I saw a post that Zenyatta has safely arrived in Kentucky. I do believe she gets around almost as much as I do but I suspect she'll be settling down a bit now that motherhood is in her future.

Now the question becomes "Who's going to be her first mate?" I have my sentimental favorites but I think I'll let John my farrier weigh in on that conversation here soon. I am most interested in what he thinks as he's very much into conformation & has a great eye....does anyone else have ideas?

Zenyatta

My favorite band ever is/was The Police! Even though there are those who are probably convinced that it's Jimmy Buffett... no, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers & Sting had me collecting records somewhat earlier than my semi-obsession with Buffett began. My young adult years spent hanging out in Ocean Beach with my surfer boyfriend were lived to the soundtrack provided by the reggae/punk-ish/jazz sounds of Outlandos d'Amour, Regatta de Blanc & Zenyatta Mondatta. When it was announced that the band was breaking up because Sting wanted to pursue a solo career, I was heartbroken & boycotted his music until Ten Sumner's Tales was released years later. I'm just that loyal (stubborn?) but eventually I could no longer ignore that even his solo music is great...today, he's forgiven and I LOVE his music. If you ride to music, I swear, Sting/Police music is amazing. The tempos are lively & consistent, the beats are strong & enjoyable. I can no longer listen to one without mentally riding it.

So when a horse by the name of Zenyatta hit the racing scene everything in me knew there had to be a connection. To the best of my knowledge "zenyatta" wasn't even a real word. I later discovered that Zenyatta's owner, music promoter Jerry Moss, is friends with Sting and named the filly after the album Zenyatta Mondatta. See, I knew it!!

Reportedly, there is a Mondatta who never made it to the track. We might have to look into that!

Zenyatta was purchased at the Keeneland Sale but did not race as a two year old. In an interview on 60 Minutes her trainer, John Shirreffs, was asked why they didn't run her in the Derby and his reply was that she simply was not mature enough yet....

That is a statement that could be worth Zenyatta's weight in gold!

Seriously, I'd like to post it in every racing barn and at every track in the United States. This is the biggest source of contention between racing and rescue: that young horses are put on to the track well before they are physically mature and too often this results in injuries to their immature legs. The horse is used up and tossed aside for the next best prospect before it ever had a chance to prove how truly athletic it could have been. Now I hope that my racing friends know that I am not pointing fingers at them as I could only be associated with folks who I feel do try to do the right thing by their horses. It's that delicate line I dance between my life-long love of racing and the passion I feel for horse rescue.

Many in the equine community ask why is it that in every other equine sport we hold off til after 3 years to start a horse consistently and even longer before developing a horse for a more demanding discipline, yet racing starts them at two...which are sometimes a bit less than two due to the January 1st "official" age date. I totally get that the younger horse is going to have more energy...boy do I ever get that from a human aspect these days, but I have always wondered what it would hurt to let the horses wait just a year longer... let those joints fill in, let the horse's skeleton finish getting to where it's going. THEN let's see what kind of magic can happen on the track.

Look what happened with a little more time to develop...

In both this 60 minutes piece and a fascinating article in Sports Illustrated, Shirreffs talks about how beautifully she matured in that extra year she had off.

"Her legs weren't ready to take care of that body," says Shirreffs. "...if you compromise a horse when she's young, you'll never see her full talents." according to the Sports Illustrated article.

They go on further to discribe her better than I've ever seen...

"Now they have not just any horse, but a transcendent one. "She has a deep heart girth," says Shirreffs, "which indicates plenty of room for lung in her rib cage. But her chest isn't broad, which would inhibit her stride by putting her forelegs farther apart. Behind, she's very strong, when often a horse of her [height] would be narrow in back. The combination, her front and her back, it's amazing. And her heart, who knows how big her heart is. Whatever it is physically, it's huge metaphysically." Zenyatta is also uncommonly sweet at rest; Shirreffs allows fans to visit her almost without restriction."

The Zen-Mistress now has a perfect record: 19 wins in 19 races.

Today is #20 and reportedly her last...her retirement race... I assume she'll go on to be a broodmare and hopefully pass on her good genes to her offspring. Monica, Maeve & I were just talking about the X-Factor that says that the strongest genes come through the X chromosome (the female) and now I am fascinated at the possibilities of this amazing mare going on to produce more of her own kind. This is one of those rare instances where I do have to support the idea of breeding her. I think she's worth repeating...or at least trying to, right? She won't be producing 100's more, just a select few...and who will the studs be? I can't think of anyone worthy of her at this point but I'm sure her team, who seems to love her very much, will make the best choices possible. They can certainly afford to be very selective! Shoot, I think if I had a top stud, I'd almost PAY to have Zenyatta carry one of his foals!!!

Back in May I went out to the California Equine Retirement Foundation (CERF) and met founder, Grace Belcuore. She's also a big Zenyatta fan and shared with me her story about meeting Zenyatta. Grace asked if she could hug Zenyatta and they said "sure". As she wrapped her arms around Zenyatta's chest, She bent down and hugged Grace back with her head. I later hugged Grace to get my second generation Zenyatta hug...ok, mostly it was because I was so in awe of the work Grace does to care for Off-the-track Thoroughbreds but the arms that hugged Zenyatta have hugged me ...and that's a pretty cool bonus!








So I'm sitting here in a hotel room in Miami after a long day of traveling to get to Florida for a cruise we're about to take. There have been many discussions about trying to do a lay-over in Louisville on the way but the flights were just not working out otherwise Les & I would have been all over this Breeders Cup. I think we both know this is a very special one, in deed. But because we fly standby, we sometimes don't even get our second choice of flights and were bumped from a flight Thursday night which would have gotten us into Miami at 7am Friday Morning. Our perfect plan (based on not being able to go to Louisville) was to drive down to Key West on Friday and spend the day/evening with a large number of our friends who are down there for Meeting of the Minds, a Parrot Head convention of sorts (back to Buffett!) and then come back up Saturday to catch live racing at Calder so we could make sure to see the Breeders Cup Sprint with our local hero, Atta Boy Roy (or as we renamed him Derby Day, Atta Good Boy Roy) & the beautiful Zenyatta in the Breeders Cup Classic. When Friday Fun was scrubbed because we had to fly to Orlando and drive to Miami, I assumed he'd want to drive to Key West today instead, but I am very proud to say that he didn't even consider it. He's the one who said, "It's too bad, but no Key West this time!" HE wants to go to the track as much as I do!

On the 5 hour plane ride I tried to amuse myself by doing crosswords puzzles, but when the puzzle asks for an 8-letter word...I thought "Zenyatta" and I would drift off thinking about the race and this incredible horse...so I induldged myself a little bit and thought of words that belong with her...



My friend Kathleen is there RIGHT NOW (ok, maybe she's sleeping "right now") but if she's anything like me she's laying there imagining Zenyatta on the track in all of her glory with her garland, trophy and the clicks of a gazillion camera's going off...I'll text her in the morning in an effort to sneak into her moment just a second or two...and there will be phone calls & all of the excitement amongst my friends who want this win for her with our huge collective heart.

So Zenyatta, show 'em how to run like a girl...a great big beautiful, strong, amazing girl!!! (I think I may have borrowed that from Bonnie...if not, it sounds like something she'd say!)

I love a line I read recently that you've never gone anywhere but to the winners circle after you run the track...so I wish you one last happy trip there and that in the months to come you understand that it's a wonderful gift that you've been retired to be a horse. I hope you always feel loved. No matter the outcome, you're one of a kind and you inspire us.

...and above all else....have a safe trip around Churchill Downs....see you in the winner's circle!

Girl Power!

Go Zenyatta Go!!

Edit update: 11/16/10

This all took place just before I left on a cruise through the Caribbean and I didn't have (much) Internet access but I did want to update that Les & I went to Calder Race Track and watched the Breeders Cup races from there on Saturday. Bonnie & I were texting each other and we did get an ESPN feed so we did get to *see* the coverage but didn't get to *hear* the non-track coverage.

Needless to say I was heartbroken about the way the day started: in the Juvenile Turf, Rough Sailing broke down around the first turn and was euthanized after sustaining a fracture of the humerus bone in his right forelimb & then our Home-Boy Atta Boy Roy had to be hauled off the track and off the heels of the Rough Sailing loss, we were very concerned for the Washington Home-town Hero. It, according to the Seattle PI, "... was initially diagnosed as a suspensory injury in his right foreleg. However, chief Breeders’ Cup veterinarian Wayne McIllwraith said Atta Boy Roy was in no apparent danger.

“Calvin Borel noticed a bit of sensitivity in the right forelimb and jumped off the horse," McIlwraith said. "He has a mild injury to a medial branch suspensory ligament. It is certainly not life-threatening, and probably not career-threatening.”

All of this made for an even more stressful Breeders Cup Classic race, praying that Zenyatta would make a safe trip no matter the outcome. I was a bundle of nerves, especially after it looked like she might have had a bad start and seemed to be running "off" but then she settled in....far behind the pack...and made her move toward the end. Her Jockey, Mike Smith, placed her up in the pack and had to work her way out so that she could come on the outside to run for the wire. In the end it was probably the manuvering that cost her but she lost the race to "Blame" by mere inches. She gave it an amazing GO at the end and she probably really only needed a stride or two more to have won but she did it in amazing style. Mike Smith later accepted the blame for her loss but said she ranked up there with the best horses of all-time.

One of Bonnie's last texts was "she probably doesn't even know she lost"...the replay shows she kept running hard, well past the finish line & later Bonnie posted on Facebook:

Best post-race comment: "She probably went back to her barn thinking that this track just didn't hand out flowers."

Thanks for all the blog filler Bonnie!!