LOS ANGELES — While Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss were building A&M Records into a powerhouse label, Moss bought his first thoroughbred in 1970. It was the start of a love affair with horse racing that lasted the rest of his life.
His family said Moss died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles at age 88.
“This is a gold-star guy,” said John Sadler, one of Moss’s primary trainers over the years.
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith said, “Our sport has lost a giant.”
In racing, Moss is best remembered as owner of 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta and Giacomo, who stunned with a victory at 50-1 odds in the 2005 Kentucky Derby.
He also bred many of his own horses.
Zenyatta became a household name while competing from 2008 to 2010, winning 19 consecutive races. She captured the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, the first female to defeat males in the $5 million race at Santa Anita.
Horse breeder Jerry Moss, owner of Zenyatta appears during a news conference with trainer John Shirreffs, left, after the Breeders’ Cup draw at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on Nov. 3, 2009. Moss, a music industry giant who co-founded A&M Records, died Wednesday at his home in Bel Air, Calif. He was 88. Credit: AP/Jae C. Hong
Her only defeat in 20 career starts came the following year, when she finished a narrow second to Blame in the 2010 BC Classic at Churchill Downs. A crying Smith blamed himself afterward.
“When I got to ride for him he just made you feel like you were part of the team and part of the family, win, lose or draw,” Smith told The Associated Press by phone. “You never felt the pressure of having to win. When you can feel that love, things just work out better and you wind up winning more than you probably would have.”
Moss and his then-wife Ann were generous in sharing Zenyatta with the public and the mare responded in kind. She pranced in the post parade and stood still at the sound of clicking cameras. Her YouTube videos were a hit, too.
“It’s an emotional thing and it…
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