INGLEWOOD, Calif. (May 29, 2008) - Undefeated Zenyatta, a winner of her four starts by a combined 12¾ lengths, aims for her fifth victory as she carries high weight of 122 pounds in Saturday's $175,000-added Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Zenyatta, owned by Jerry and Ann Moss and trained by John Shirreffs, will be the first half of what the connections hope is another double on Saturday. Later on the program Tiago runs in the $250,000 Californian. The pair won their last starts on the same card, with Tiago capturing the Oaklawn Handicap and Zenyatta the Apple Blossom Handicap on April 5 at Oaklawn Park.
Zenyatta, a 4-year-old daughter of Street Cry, has toyed with her opposition to date. She registered a three-length victory in her first start here last November, then connected by 3½ lengths in an allowance race in December. Stepping up to graded stakes company, she scored a 1¾-length victory over Tough Tiz's Sis in the Grade II El Encino at Santa Anita Park in mid-January.
She passed her first Grade I test with ease as an explosive late burst carried her to a 4½-length victory under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith in the Apple Blossom.
She will face seven other fillies and mares in the 57th running of the 1 1/16-mile Milady, which lines up as follows from the rail out:
Kris' Sis, with Julio Garcia up, carries 113 pounds; Foxysox, Victor Espinoza, 117; Model, Alonso Quinonez, 113; Romance Is Diane, Michael Baze, 118; La Tee, Tyler Baze, 113; Zenyatta, Smith, 122; Double Trouble, Rafael Bejarano, 116, and Santa Teresita, Joe Talamo, 116.
Zenyatta, a winner of $444,000, is one of three Grade I winners in the field. Brazilian-bred Double Trouble won the Santa Maria in February for Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, while multiple graded winner Romance Is Diane captured the Grade I Hollywood Starlet here in 2006.
Romance Is Diane, trained by Mike Mitchell for Senji Nishimura, is the richest filly in the field with earnings of $615,660. She has won five of 12 starts.
Foxysox, owned by Warren B. Williamson and trained by Carla Gaines, has won six of 20 starts for earnings of $596,718. Five of her wins have come on turf, where she won the Grade II Santa Barbara Handicap at 1¼ miles in her last start. She won the Grade II Bayakoa Handicap here on Cushion Track in December of 2006.
Kris' Sis was beaten less than one length while finishing second here opening day in the Wilshire Handicap; Model was the runner-up in the Santa Lucia Handicap in April; La Tee set the pace before fading to third in the Wilshire, and Santa Lucia winner Santa Teresita was beaten less than one length in the Hawthorne Handicap on May 4.
The Milady Handicap runs as the fifth race on Saturday's program, while The Californian runs as the eighth. The program, which also includes the Manhattan Beach Stakes, begins at 1:20 p.m.
