A rock-star name
Zenyatta was named after Zenyatta Mondatta, the album by The Police. Her owner Jerry Moss co-founded their record label, A&M.
Zenyatta The Queen
Nineteen straight wins. One unforgettable queen.
Zenyatta turned the closing stages of a race into an event. From behind the field came the long stride, the late challenge and, nineteen times in succession, the victory.
Trained by John Shirreffs for Jerry and Ann Moss, she began racing at Hollywood Park in November 2007. Two wins that year became an unbeaten seven-race campaign in 2008. By the following autumn, the challenge was bigger: the Breeders’ Cup Classic against the males.
Her story was not quite a perfect ending. After nineteen straight wins, she met Blame at Churchill Downs in her final race and finished second. Yet that season brought the Horse of the Year title. Zenyatta retired as a champion whose late-running style made every finish feel like a story waiting to unfold.
Watch the race that changed everything- Career starts
- 20
- Consecutive wins
- 19
- Grade 1 victories
- 13
- Horse of the Year
- 2010
The defining race
Santa Anita. 7 November 2009.
The first female winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Her fourteenth start brought the moment that defined her career. Zenyatta won the Classic at Santa Anita, adding it to her 2008 Ladies’ Classic victory. She became the first horse to win two different Breeders’ Cup races.
Explore Santa Anita on G1StarsBeyond the record
Three things that make her unforgettable.
Almost perfection
Nineteen wins from twenty starts. In her only defeat, she still finished second. She never finished outside the first two.
Three extraordinary hat-tricks
The Vanity, Clement L. Hirsch and Lady’s Secret: Zenyatta won each of these races three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The races that tell the story
Three chapters. One extraordinary career.
24 October · Santa Anita
A champion arrives
Victory in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic completed an unbeaten season. Zenyatta was nine from nine.
Race & replay at Zenyatta.com7 November · Santa Anita
The Queen takes on the boys
The Classic was her first meeting with the males. The result gave racing a milestone that went far beyond an unbeaten record.
Watch the Classic6 November · Churchill Downs
A final, breathtaking challenge
Blame won her final Classic. Zenyatta finished second: her only defeat in twenty starts. The winning streak ended; her place in racing history endured.
Explore Churchill DownsBeyond the finish line
A record tells you what she won.
The races tell you why she mattered.
Three consecutive titles as Champion Older Female, the 2010 Horse of the Year award and induction into the Hall of Fame in 2016 recognise the career. The films preserve something the numbers cannot: the anticipation as Zenyatta begins her move.
Compare the Group 1 greatsWatch the story
Races, voices & memories.
life after racing
Zenyatta in Kentucky
Meet the champion away from the racetrack in this Kentucky Life feature.
Watch on PBS →behind the scenes
A horse with charisma?
A different look at Zenyatta away from the finish line.
Watch on CBS →Hero portraits are AI-created editorial images.