Shuggy

Though the grandstand remains quiet during the off-season at Keeneland, the racetrack does not, as trainers' barns grow and flourish with the continuous arrival of 2-year-olds ready to take the next step towards debuting as fully-fledged racehorses. It's a time of year filled with a sense of excitement for what's to come as trainers, owners and fans alike brim with the anticipation of watching who might develop into future stars. This feeling is one that seems to reverberate most throughout Cherie DeVaux's barn following the recent arrival of one very...

Among the some 170 catalogued horses expected to breeze during Wednesday's fourth session of the under-tack preview for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, one colt stands out on paper thanks to his famous grandmother. Shuggy (Twirling Candy) (hip 668) is the first foal out of champion Zenyatta's unraced daughter Zellda (Medaglia d'Oro). Mayberry Farm is consigning the bay colt on behalf of Ann Holbrook Moss, who campaigned Zenyatta with her ex-husband, the late Jerry Moss. "Everything Zenyatta is hers," April Mayberry said of Holbrook....

There is one moment that still sticks out to April Mayberry from Zenyatta's time at her family's farm in Ocala. From the day the daughter of Street Cry (Ire) arrived at Mayberry Farm, she was straightforward but not necessarily a standout. That is, until the future superstar had her first breeze. Mayberry's mother Jeanne instructed rider Ronaldo Rodas to take it easy, let the filly follow behind four or five other 2-year-olds and see how she handled it. As the story goes, in a move that would later become her...