Santa Anita Morning

Today was the presentation of the first Secretariat Vox Populi Award given to Zenyatta's owners.  Not surprisingly, the promise of getting Penny Chenery's autograph beat out spending the morning working at the old house.  I got up and headed over to Santa Anita Racetrack this morning, beating my friends Erin and Kay by more than half an hour, even though I got off the freeway at the wrong exit.  I got there before the gates opened, so I spent the time in line, talking to a nice man who gave me a ticket for free admission to the park.

When the gates finally opened, I headed over to the line for purchasing the poster of Secretariat and Zenyatta.  I was well ahead of where Kay, Erin, and Erin's sister Maureen were able to join it.  We decided that one of them could come and join me without too much trouble, but three would be a problem.  Kay came up to me and I greeted her with "so you found the restroom?"  Nobody made any objections, so I had someone to talk to for the hour we had to wait.

Eventually, Penny Chenery and Team Zenyatta arrived to applause.  The line weaved around the barriers and I was lucky enough to get a few good photographs.  I'm glad I decided to use the SLR rather than the point and shoot.

Zenyatta's owner Jerry Moss, jockey Mike Smith, and trainer John Shirreffs.

 Scretariat's owner, Penny Chenery, with Zenyatta owner Ann Moss.  Note Ann's "Z" pin.

 Jockey Mike Smith signing the lithograph portrait of Zenyatta.

Penny Chenery got out of a golf cart and walked to the signing tent.  Someone said "isn't that great that she's walking." I said "she's 87 or 88, she isn't dead."  When I saw the movie Secretariat, I pointed her out to Len in the Belmont Stakes shot.  I have no idea how I knew what she would look like almost 40 years after I saw her in the winner's circle on TV, but there was no mistaking her.

 Dottie Shirreffs writes the entries for Zenyatta's on-line diary, which I enjoy reading. 

 The very beautiful Ann Moss.

 

 Jerry Moss.

Kay watches John Shirreffs autograph the poster of Secretariat and Zenyatta.

Kay picks up her posters. We were lucky to be able to buy two each, so Erin and Maureen could have copies. They were in position to be able to buy them, but the autographing would have ended before they got to the tent.

I decided not to stay until the sixth race for the actual ceremony, figuring I'll be able to catch it on line somewhere and have a better view of it that way.  But I had to stop at the gift store before I left--Santa Anita has a great gift shop.

I noticed copies of Secretariat's Meadow and then I realized someone was signing books--Penny Chenery's daughter Kate.  I was suddenly very happy that I hadn't ordered the book from Amazon.

Kate Chenery Tweedy signed my copy of Secretariat's Meadow.  She described herself to another customer as "I'm Penny's rebellious hippie daughter Kate."  It must be funny to think of yourself as immortalized that way on film, but she definitely had a sense of humor about it.  Another customer pulled out a photograph of his horse--a descendant of Big Red.  Kate said they're encouraging people to send photographs of Secretariat's progeny for a website.  That will be worth checking out.

I also picked up a tee-shirt like the ones that the gift store staff were wearing:

I like the reverse as well:

Secretariat and Zenyatta are definitely racing royalty.  Watching them run is something I will never forget.  My poster is now ready for hanging.

Choices

All over the country, people are planning what to eat on Sunday afternoon while the Superbowl is on.  I've given some thought to it, and will expound on Into the Kitchen, but I'm more concerned about what to do tomorrow.

Equine Affaire is this weekend at the Los Angeles County Fairplex.  It started yesterday and runs until Sunday. I haven't missed it in years. It's a great place to go shopping, and if I time it right, I can also hit the enormous Broken Horn Saddlery on my way out there. 

But....

Penny Chenery will be at Santa Anita Racetrack tomorrow to present Jerry and Ann Moss with the Inaugural Secretariat Vox Populi Award for Zenyatta's amazing effect on the popularity of horse racing during the past year. Zenyatta's already in Kentucky awaiting her first breeding to Bernardini, so I've read she'll be there on camera.  There's a gorgeous poster of portraits of Big Red and Zenyatta that will be sold, and Ms. Chenery and the Mosses will be signing prior to the ceremony. I am so tempted to go, even though I hate crowds. Besides, Santa Anita has a great gift shop where I've purchased some fun jewelry in the past.

Unfortunately...

What I really need to do is go back and finish the last load of boxes to empty the old house, so that will no longer be hanging around my neck like a millstone.  I want to be finished with that annoyance, so I can enjoy the new house.

Decisions, decisions.

Putting Christmas Away

I got most of the decorations off the live (but now quite dead and dry) tree in the living room last night.  As I suspected, I missed some and saw a Batman hanging this morning.  I'll have Len do the last check after he gets one of the Wolverines and the tree topper down.  I was too lazy to get out a step-stool out last night, and I was getting annoyed with being stabbed by needles to take them down myself.  All of the lights are down and I'll have to test them before I put them away.  No use keeping things that no longer work and at least one of the complex strands was not working on the tree.

Added to ornaments that need replacing is the NASA lunar excursion module--that little go-cart with an astronaut.  The dish antenna broke off last night. I have a spare of the Eagle, but not the go-cart.  I'll also be searching E-bay for a new Worf and a new Yoda, thanks to Riley.  The blown-glass Dark Knight I dropped and shattered last night already had a duplicate (hooray.)  Tonight I'll sit at the kitchen table and put things back into their boxes for the next 10 months.  It is a time-consuming process to put Christmas away.

Does anyone know where I might be able to find the things that go into the top of a glass ornament which has a metal loop and collar.  I have no idea what they are called, but we have a number of glass bulbs from Len's days with Disney that have lost those parts over the years.  Not sure how that happens, mind you.  And these are kind of large, so my plan to replace them with pieces from plain ornaments didn't work.

The horse tree has not yet been undressed.  I'm still trying to purchase a Zenyatta ornament, but nobody has them and word is they won't be restocked until the fall.  At least they'll be back in production so I don't have to spend $80 to buy one.  My friends and I are planning to go to Santa Anita Race Track in early February for the ceremony where Penny Chenery, owner of Secretriat, will be giving the Mosses a new award because of the way Zenyatta had a positive effect on thoroughbred racing.  She's been a personality directly out of the Secretariat handbook, so it is appropriate she gets the first one.  Hooray for the Queen.

Secretariat

I was a year out of college when Big Red won the Triple Crown.  I remember watching the Belmont race in my Aunt Babe's basement on Long Island with family members.  It was amazing.  He was amazing.  The money shot that ran all over the world of his jockey looking backwards to see where the hell the other horses were in a 31 length blow out said it all.

We went to a screening of Disney's version of the Secretariat story last night. As many have suggested, the film  might better be called "Penny," because the movie is mostly about this extraordinary woman's role in creating one of the finest equine athletes of all time.  Penny Chenery took over the operation of her father's thoroughbred breeding farm in 1968, made the decision to breed two of their mares to Bold Ruler (one of the changes you'll see in the film to heighten tensions in the film was changing the timing of when she took over the farm shows the decision was her father's and puts her into a coin-flip that was actually his), and produced both Riva Ridge (not even mentioned in the film) and Secretariat.

I really enjoyed the film, because it does a real good job of showing how difficult things could be for a smart woman back in the late 1960s.  Penny had a degree from Smith and attended Columbia University's business school, but gave up her own aspirations for marriage and family until her father became ill.  She clearly had the training and the background to run the farm, but she gets a lot of "nice girl" pats on the head before people realize that she's a steel magnolia.

The screening audience had a huge range of attendees, from small children to octogenarians, and lots of horse people.

Watching the film, it became clear to me that Zenyatta has the same kind of effect that a Secretariat or Seabiscuit had on the public.  I firmly believe that these horses are/were self-aware.  They know/knew what they were doing, know/knew what the fuss was about, and are/were having a great time putting on a show.

I went to both of Zenyatta's "Farewell Appearances" late last year, so I've seen her in the flesh, but I couldn't bring myself to watch her actually race.  Her style would give me a heart attack in person.  I wait until the races are put on-line to watch her go from the back of the pack and destroy the souls of horses who think they are going to win.  Here on the West Coast we've been treated to the kind of disdain that happened with Seabiscuit back during the Depression--because she is a California horse, somehow Zenyatta's 19-0 record isn't really much to talk about according to the East Coast racing writers.  Are they crazy?  Or are they just snobs?

I recommend going to see Secretariat and then having a good time finding actual footage of his Triple Crown wins on-line.  Then I'd suggest watching footage of Zenyatta (the video shot from Mike Smith's helmet during training is amazing) and see what she does in the Breeders' Cup in November.  She's brought Secretariat level excitement back to racing.

The Lull before the Holidays

Some of life is calming down a welcome bit. I'm starting prep for Thanksgiving, which includes counting dishes and glassware and hoping I've got enough for the folks who will be attending. I think we'll have a smaller group than last year, since my good china and dining room table are still at the warehouse. I don't even think anything's been done to fix the table yet.

Ace was originally scheduled to do a show yesterday and then do the Arab show over Thanksgiving weekend. Yesterday didn't happen and I think we're going to pass on the Arab show. Ashley's been sick and I haven't bought my membership in the other organization besides AHA that I need to join.

Ace has taken to jumping like a duck takes to water. He's a very happy camper when Ashley gets to take him over things. Just as long as he doesn't decide I need to learn how to jump, we'll be fine.

Did you all watch Zenyatta blow away the boys at the Breeders Cup Classic on Saturday? I happened to remember it was going on and found it on TV about half an hour before post time. What a horse! Ever since Barbaro, I'm rather terrified to watch Thoroughbred racing, but the girls (Rachel Alexandra's the other one) have been quite special this year. I hope Zenyatta's owners retire her. She's definitely earned it. But I bet she's the kind of horse who would rather have that job to do. I do find myself wondering how to get Ron Weschler to get us on a tour that will let us meet her. He knows so many people in racing, but it would be easier if she was at home at Santa Anita and not Hollywood Park.

My friend Kay Reindl was at the race on Saturday and was close by the gate when one of the horses refused to load. It was scary on TV and it was even worse in person. Kay let some joker know how dangerous it was when he stood near her laughing about it. I was amazed that the jockey stuck around on board for so long. It was a good thing that neither the horse nor anyone else got hurt.