Zensational

Last updated
Zensational
Sire Unbridled's Song
Grandsire Unbridled
DamJoke
Damsire Phone Trick
Sex Colt
Foaled2006
CountryUnited States
Colour Roan
Breeder Claiborne Farm
Owner Zayat Stables LLC
Trainer Bob Baffert
Record8: 5-1-0
Earnings$669,300
Major wins
Triple Bend Invitational Handicap (2009)
Bing Crosby Handicap (2009)
Pat O'Brien Handicap (2009)
Last updated on October 12, 2009

Zensational (foaled April 26, 2006) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his performances over sprint distances.

Thoroughbred Horse breed developed for racing

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility, speed, and spirit.

Contents

Background

Zensational is a gray or roan colt, bred in Kentucky. He was sired by Unbridled's Song out of the Phone Trick mare Joke. Like her son, Joke was also a speedster, winning the Vallejo Stakes. Zensational's dam Joke was a stakes winner and she is a half-sister to the stakes winners Trip (Lord at War) and Laity (Pulpit).

A colt is a male horse, usually below the age of four years.

Unbridled's Song was an American thoroughbred racehorse who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Florida Derby and Wood Memorial. He was the favorite for the 1996 Kentucky Derby but injured himself before the race and finished fifth. He finished his racing career with five wins from twelve starts and earnings of $1.3 million. He subsequently became a highly successful sire, with major winners including Breeders' Cup champions Arrogate, Forever Unbridled, Midshipman and Liam's Map. He was posthumously the leading sire in North America of 2017.

Joke something spoken, written, or done with humorous intention

A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is not meant to be taken seriously. It takes the form of a story, usually with dialogue, and ends in a punch line. It is in the punch line that the audience becomes aware that the story contains a second, conflicting meaning. This can be done using a pun or other word play such as irony, a logical incompatibility, nonsense, or other means. Linguist Robert Hetzron offers the definition:

A joke is a short humorous piece of oral literature in which the funniness culminates in the final sentence, called the punchline… In fact, the main condition is that the tension should reach its highest level at the very end. No continuation relieving the tension should be added. As for its being "oral," it is true that jokes may appear printed, but when further transferred, there is no obligation to reproduce the text verbatim, as in the case of poetry.

A $700,00 yearling purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale of 2-year-olds in training in 2008, Zensational was bred by Claiborne Farm in Kentucky.

Racing career

Owned by Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Garrett K. Gomez, the Roan almost Gray Colt swept all three major sprints in Southern California in the summer of 2009, beating older horses in the Triple Bend Handicap, then in the Bing Crosby Handicap and the Pat O'Brien Handicap. The victory in the Pat O'Brien Handicap earned Zensational a spot in the BC Sprint on Nov. 7 at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting through the Win and You're In.

Bob Baffert American horse owner and trainer

Robert A. Baffert is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won five Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks.

Garrett K. Gomez American jockey

Garrett Keith Gomez was an American thoroughbred jockey who won two Eclipse Awards and thirteen Breeders' Cup races during his career.

2009 Breeders Cup Sprint

Zensational faced a heavy field of sprint horses at their best in the $2 million Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Sprint at the Oak Tree Meeting at Santa Anita Park. The field included Kentucky Cup Sprint winner, El Brujo, Forego Handicap winner Pyro and winner of the 2009 Ancient Title Stakes going 6 furlongs, Gayego.

El Brujo archaeological site of the Moche culture

Located in the Chicama Valley, the El Brujo Archaeological Complex, just north of Trujillo, La Libertad Province, Peru, is an ancient archaeological site that was occupied from preceramic times. Considering the broad cultural sequencing, the Chicama Valley can be considered as an archaeological microcosm. The research benefits from the favourable environmental and topological conditions for material conservation.

The Forego Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Open to horses three years old and up, it is a Grade I event run at a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt. The race can be a prep race for either the Breeders' Cup Sprint at 6 furlongs, or the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. In 2015, the purse was increased to $700,000.

Pyro is an American Thoroughbred Racehorse and sire. His sire is Pulpit, a son of the 1992 Eclipse Award Winner for American Horse of the Year, A.P. Indy. His dam is the mare Wild Vision, sired by the 1984 Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Wild Again.

Retired following an unplaced finish in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Sprint. Zensational Entered stud in 2010 at Hill 'N' Dale Farms, Lexington KY.

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References