Zenyatta is a six-year-old, unbeaten Thoroughbred that I'd never heard of until today. She has a signature dance and an unusual racing style. Watch this: you can see her using that great. Big. Butt to get speed right near the end. She's an enormous horse with a lot of power, and seems to completely enjoy what she's doing.
I'm not a huge fan of horse or dog-racing, but damn if it's not fun to watch the good ones really get into what they're doing.
The good racehorses do love what they do. Competitive instinct is bred into them, and they love to run. And most of the horses are treated like royalty - they're expensive as anything, and a mistreated horse won't turn a profit. So the OMG poor abused horsies stuff doesn't fly with me. My mom worked with a woman who owned racehorses...they were more pampered than your average housecat.
ReplyDeleteZenyatta is adorable, isn't she? I love her attitude. She's one of the horses who so clearly loves to run - and loves to WIN. Heh, my friend's horse is an ex-racehorse. P loved to race but his shortcoming was his ego. When he won, he would do a little victory dance...which was cute until he started doing it BEFORE he crossed the finish line, giving the horses behind him a chance to scoot past him under the wire. He dreams about racing still...he does his little victory flails in his sleep. He's the best horse ever, just such a sweet, sweet boy. She has a handful of former racehorses, some of them quite successful and most of them with sweet, people-oriented personalities that suggest they were treated well. (And then there's one who's just kind of grumpy - not mean, just a bit of a sourpuss and a fussbudget. He's my favorite :) )
Zenyatta is a BEAST. I love working with my cheap horses in south Louisiana, I can only imagine the pressure being the vet for a superhorse like her!!
ReplyDeleteHere's an excellent Zenyatta video (set to Lady Gaga's Starstruck).
Holy smokes she can cover some ground!!
ReplyDeleteZenyatta is amazing - even more so in person! One fun fact - her owner is Jerry Moss (the "M" of A & M Records) and his record company produced the Police album Zenyatta Mondatta. That's where her name came from - and another neat fact is that she was purchased at auction as a yearling for $60,000! She's definatly earned her keep!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, noble animal.
ReplyDeleteI once read that when all else is equal, bet on the horse with the biggest, highest butt. That's where the power is.
I just hate that the mares are never valued as much as the studs - because they can't make as much off a winning mare since they can only gestate one foal a season, but the studs can cover hundreds of mares... sexist! ;)
ReplyDeleteShe's an awesome horse!
(and I've always done well picking winners by how much cutting up they do before the race)
Wow. That is fan-TASTIC. Good for her. My family is friends with a family that raises racehorses, but I never picked up any good tips. :D
ReplyDelete