BTB: Zenyatta's breeding: Oldies and goodies

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 01:01 PM PST

I suppose you all saw Zenyatta's last race before retirement, which folks are lamenting as a loss. Well -- the better's loss, sure -- not ours. To me the race was one more example of the heart and power of this great filly. Bob said "if she had a longer snout she would have won." Although I wish I could dissuade him from using the word snout when referring to a horse's muzzle, I totally agree with him, and the "winner" of this race is a minor point. She ran this race like all the others, and it was beautiful to watch.

Jane Smiley, a Pulitzer Prize author, horse lover, and former racehorse owner, wrote about Zenyatta for the New York Times recently. To my delight she talked about Zenyatta's "old-fashioned breeding" which includes the amazing Princequillo (also in Harv's bloodlines). It's a great read...

clipped from therail.blogs.nytimes.com

Zenyatta Shows Old Ways Still Work

By JANE SMILEY

Zenyatta is by Street Cry out of a Kris S. mare named Vertigineux. Street Cry was a good racehorse and is a productive stallion. Kris S. sustained a career-ending injury but has also sired good offspring. What is distinctive about Zenyatta, though, is that the Native Dancer blood in there amounts to only a drop. Her breeding is old, old, old, and she looks like an old-fashioned horse — rangy and big, with good bone and enormous hooves.

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