Zenyatta Weighted at 127 For Santa Margarita

Updated: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 8:29 AM
Posted: Monday, March 8, 2010 6:58 PM

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Zenyatta
, who will make her first start of the year March 13 in the
Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap
(gr. I) at
Santa Anita
, will carry top weight of 127 pounds in the race. The weight assignment is eight to 19 pounds more than her possible competitors.


Multiple champion Zenyatta, who is unbeaten in 15 starts, is owned by
Jerry and Ann Moss
and trained by
John Shirreffs
. She will be ridden again by
Mike Smith
.
Zenyatta, by
Street Cry,
has won carrying more weight; last June she toted 129 pounds in the Vanity Invitational Handicap (gr. I).

Zenyatta has not started since becoming the first female to beat males in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Santa Margarita is a prep race for the Apple Blossom Stakes (gr. I), when it is anticipated Zenyatta would meet 2009 Horse of the Year
Rachel Alexandra
.
Invitations were extended to 17 fillies and mares, with Tuscan Evening second on the list of weights at 119 pounds. Next is St Trinians at 117 though she is unlikely to start, having run March 6 in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I).
Next comes Mushka (116 pounds), Striking Dancer (115), My Baby Baby (113) Life Is Sweet (113), and Pretty Unusual (113).

WHAT was her heaviest weight before. 127 is sometimes a tough weight. horses sometimes have trouble shifting into gear with just an extra pound.

oh 129. good mare hope she continues as good this year

Hope both great horses run well on Saturday. From Santa Anita's website:
CarryoversSo. Cal. Pick Six




HRTV TO AIR 2010 DEBUTS OF RACHEL ALEXANDRA, ZENYATTA SATURDAY

HRTV will present a special one-hour live show Saturday featuring the 2010 debuts of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta.

Entitled “The Champions Return,” the show will be hosted by Scott Hazelton and Gary Stevens, who will be live at the Fair Grounds for Rachel Alexandra’s race, the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies’ Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. It will go as the 10th race at approximately 3:15 p.m. The Santa Margarita will be Santa Anita’s seventh race with a probable post time of 3:40 p.m.

Zenyatta, who is the 127 pound Santa Margarita highweight, is expected to use the race as a steppingstone to the “Race of the Ages” against Rachel Alexandra in the $5 million Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Friday, April 9.

“She worked very well Friday morning,” trainer John Shirreffs said of her six furlong move in 1:11.80, breezing at Hollywood Park. “I had her in 1:11 and three or four. She looks like she’s on top of her game right now. She walked yesterday morning for an hour and a half and she walked yesterday afternoon for another hour. We took her to the main track this morning and she jogged a mile (the wrong way).”

Shirreffs said that Zenyatta would “probably van over (to Santa Anita) Thursday afternoon.”

“She worked unbelievable the other day,” said her regular rider, Mike Smith. “I know it sounds funny, but I really think she’s getting better. She seems more and more focused and she couldn’t be doing any better.”

Me too Oso!!!




I GOTTA have Sissy DVR this for me!! I don't have HRTV at my house. I can't wait to see BOTH of them!! It sounds like Zen is really on fire in her training and Rachel looks very filled out and bigger than before so hopefully they both debut this year in grand style!!

DRF article on Biscuit's tip filly, Striking Dancer:
Santa Anita | Posted 3/10/2010, 4:19 pm
http://www.drf.com/news/article/111336.html

Tough assignment for Striking Dancer
By Steve Andersen

Benoit & Associates
Striking Dancer, winner of the La Canada last month, will tackle Zenyatta on Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The elusive first stakes win arrived for Striking Dancer in the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 14.

What comes next in Saturday's $250,000 Santa Margarita Handicap will give owner Steve Stan Stables and trainer Kenneth McPeek a gauge on where she ranks in the nation - against one of the very best.

All Striking Dancer has to do in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita is take on Zenyatta, the undefeated two-time champion who is making her first start since a win in the Breeders' Cup Classic here last November.

The idea of facing on Zenyatta with Striking Dancer leaves McPeek's assistant trainer Jordan Brand optimistic and realistic in the same thought.

"She's training just as good as she did in the last race," Brand said. "As long as we get the jump on Zenyatta, she'll have to run us down. I think we have a good chance to be up there, but we're running against the best horse in the world."

In other words, a placing in a Grade 1 may have to do this weekend, if Zenyatta runs her typical race. Striking Dancer was a 13-1 outsider in the La Canada. The second- and third-place finishers from that race, Gripsholm Castle and Floating Heart, are also part of a field of eight in the Santa Margarita.

Zenyatta carries top weight of 127 pounds, spotting her rivals from 12 to 19 pounds. Striking Dancer is second on the list of weights, at 115 pounds, and will be ridden by Alex Solis.

The McPeek team considered running My Baby Baby, who was third in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Handicap in February. She will start in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 9, a race expected to draw Zenyatta and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.

My Baby Baby is better with time between races, making the decision to skip the Santa Margarita even easier, Brand said.

"She runs better with her energy in reserve," Brand said. "We know she likes the dirt."

Santa Anita expects a crowd of approximately 20,000 for Saturday's 10-race program, which would be about double the typical crowd for a Saturday, according to track president Ron Charles. He said the track is reaching out through advertising to promote Zenyatta's comeback.

A winner of 14 races for Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs, Zenyatta has made five starts at Santa Anita, but has not started at the winter-spring meeting since the Grade 2 El Encino Stakes here in January 2008. Her other four wins at Santa Anita came during the 2008 and 2009 Oak Tree meetings in the fall.

I have to go with:

Zenyatta
Pretty Unusual
Striking Dancer
Floating Heart

But what do I know? I'm an idiot....

Hey, Beau, those are exactly my picks as well.

same picks for me as well, Beau-

Go Zenyatta! It does appear Barry Abrams will scratch Powerofvoodoo from tomorrow's race. He was hopeful only 5 horses would enter and he could be assured of 5k purse money but he's under no illusions that shewould be competitive. From the DRF:


Santa Anita | Posted 3/11/2010, 4:58 pm[url=javascript:PrintThisPage();]javascript:PrintThisPage();[/url]

Smith: Zenyatta may be better than last season

By Steve Andersen

ARCADIA, Calif. - Some of the things that Mike Smith says about Zenyatta seem hard to believe.
"It never feels like I've gotten to the bottom of her," he said at Santa Anita on Thursday. "I hope I never have to find out. Other good horses, they've had to give it their all. Even when she's won by a short margin, she's playing, flicking her ears."
Smith has ridden the unbeaten Zenyatta in 11 of her 14 wins, most of which were comfortable victories. She will be expected to win again when she makes her 2010 debut in Saturday's $250,000 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita. The Grade 1 Santa Margarita will be Zenyatta's first start since her historic win in the Breeders' Cup Classic here last November, when she became the first female to win that showcase race.
The champion older female of 2008 and 2009, Zenyatta will be heavily favored to win the Santa Margarita over 1 1/8 miles on the main track. The race is designed as a prep for the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 9 when Zenyatta is expected to face 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in a greatly anticipated matchup.
Smith has been working Zenyatta in the last month, and has noticed a change in the 6-year-old. She seems better than last year, he said.
"I think she's more forward this year than last year," he said. "You might see a big race out of her first time back. If I didn't know better, I'd think she's stronger than last year.
"She's getting to her company really fast and being very aggressive about it. If she does that, we'll see something pretty cool."
Zenyatta will carry top weight of 127 pounds and has eight rivals in the Santa Margarita, the seventh race on a 10-race program that includes the $150,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds, the ninth race. The Santa Margarita will be shown on HRTV and streamed live on NTRA.com.
Zenyatta's rivals lack a Grade 1 win among them, but two have won a graded stakes. Pretty Unusual won the Grade 2 El Encino Stakes in January, while Striking Dancer won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes on Feb. 14. Gripsholm Castle and Floating Heart, second and third in the La Canada, are part of the Santa Margarita field. Dance to My Tune and Made for Magic are stakes winners, Pretty Katherine has been stakes-placed, while Powerofvoodoo, who is not a certain starter according to trainer Barry Abrams, has run in claimers at this meeting.
From any logical perspective, they are unlikely to beat Zenyatta, who wasn't even supposed to be racing this year. After the BC Classic, owners Jerry and Ann Moss said Zenyatta would be retired and bred this winter. They changed their mind on Jan. 16, two days before Zenyatta lost the 2009 Horse of the Year title to Rachel Alexandra.
Zenyatta returned to serious training that weekend, and has impressed trainer John Shirreffs in the last month with her workouts and gallops. He admits to still being a little stung by the Horse of the Year voting.
"What more can a horse do than what she's done over the last two years?" he said. "If they hold her in such little regard, we'll just enjoy it. Because we didn't get Horse of the Year, we don't have the pressure.
"Mr. Moss brought her back to have some fun with her and let the fans enjoy her."
At least 20,000 people are expected at Santa Anita on Saturday, nearly double what the track would draw on a normal Saturday. Many who were in attendance when Zenyatta won the BC Classic, or were here when she was sent off into a presumed retirement during a ceremony on Dec. 26, will be back, with cameras at the ready.
They will be the people packing the garden surrounding the paddock, cheering her name as she is led from the saddling enclosure to the walking ring.
"It's like you're walking with the most popular person at a huge party," Shirreffs said, recalling past moments in the paddock. "There are always people wishing her the best. 'Go get 'em.' She loves it, too. You don't worry what things will make her upset. She's into it."

I was reading Derek Simons analysis of each horse entered. Even had there been a very small field, I don't think Powerofvoodoo would've been much of a threat to anyone. It took her 22 starts to break her maiden, and her last race was a $25,000 optional claimer? And they entered her in a grade 1? Thats some real high hopes.

Karen,
Abrams did receive some criticism for entering his horse. Many felt she had absolutely no shot and were critical that he named the apprentice to ride her, when he's only ridden in 1 professional race so far. I think Abrams really did think there would only be 4 others running and he could add 5k to her earnings. Didn't happen and she's most likely going to be scratched, as she should be.

i can't resist puting some money on my longshot horsey striking dancer. i truly think she has more unrealized potential, but i'm not so sure she's in zen's league. i'm gonna box her in a tri and exacta with zen. just because she's my longshot, and i have to.