Zenda, Classic winner and dam of Kingman, succumbs to laminitis at 20

Juddmonte has announced the death of one of the very best members of its broodmare ranks in Zenda, whose descendants have been in a rich vein of form at York this week.

The daughter of Zamindar, who was 20, died following a prolonged bout of laminitis.

A statement by the stud said that Zenda “truly epitomised what Juddmonte is all about” and it is easy to see why, as she is the product of two Juddmonte-breds, won a Classic on the track, and went on to produce a Classic winner at stud.

Zenda's sire Zamindar was a Group 3-winning brother to Zafonic who formerly stood at Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud, while her dam Hope was an unraced Dancing Brave sister to Irish Oaks heroine Wemyss Bight.

Sent into training with John Gosden, Zenda won the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches on the back of a Windsor maiden win and went on to take second in the Coronation Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup that season.

In the year that she claimed her Classic, her year-younger half-brother Oasis Dream was crowned Europe's champion juvenile.

Zenda retired to the Juddmonte broodmare band and, mated with some of the world's elite sires, she has been represented by five winners – headed by Kingman, the champion three-year-old in Europe of 2014 after winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James's Palace Stakes, Sussex Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois in impressive fashion.

That made Zenda the first Juddmonte-bred Classic-winning filly to produce another Classic winner at paddocks.

Kingman, who now stands alongside Oasis Dream at Banstead Manor, has taken the bloodstock industry by storm with his first crop of three-year-olds, which has yielded the Poule d'Essai des Poulains victor Persian King, exciting sprinter Calyx and Nausha, who won the Musidora Stakes at the York Dante meeting on Wednesday.

Zenda is the dam of another Royal Ascot winner in Remote, who stands at stud in South America, as well as First Eleven, a four-year-old son of Frankel who won a competitive handicap at York also on Wednesday.

Pleasantry, another of the mare's offspring, is the dam of Repartee, who stormed to a five-length victory in a two-year-old maiden at York on Thursday.

Zenda also has a three-year-old colt by Frankel named Delphian, a two-year-old Dubawi colt called Sunray Major and her last foal is a Frankel yearling colt.

She has three daughters in the Juddmonte broodmare band to carry on her influence – Multilingual, Panzanella and Present Tense.

Stud director Simon Mockridge said: “Zenda was a very special mare, kind and a delight to be around – she will be greatly missed by all the team at Juddmonte.”

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