INGLEWOOD, Calif. (July 5, 2008) - Zenyatta, winner of her previous five starts in brilliant fashion, stretched her winning streak to six with a workman-like effort in Saturday's $300,000 Vanity Handicap under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith at Hollywood Park.
The daughter of Street Cry gained the lead from pacesetter Silver Z in mid-stretch and hung on in the final sixteenth to hold off Tough Tiz's Sis by a half-length in the Grade I event.
"A horse can't have it easy all the time, somebody will challenge them, so it's important they get challenged somewhere early on before the big races like the Breeders' Cup or something," trainer John Shirreffs said. "I could see she was going to dig in - it looked like Mike had it measured pretty well."
Zenyatta trailed early in the 1 1/8-mile race on Cushion Track, but Smith moved her earlier than usual as Silver Z opened a 12-length lead on the backstretch. Smith indicated Zenyatta's mind wasn't on business.
"She didn't work at all, actually," he said. "I wish she would have. She wasn't tested at all. I was tested. She was just pulling up the whole time. Down around the turn she was pricking her ears and pulling up, she wasn't even running. She was basically galloping through the lane. She made me work hard. She was just loafing...I think I've let her do things too easily."
Zenyatta covered the distance in 1:49.51, collecting $180,000 to boost her earnings to $734,580 for Jerry and Ann Moss. She has won her six starts by a combined margin of 15¾ lengths - the last four in graded stakes. The victory was the third in the Vanity for Shirreffs, who saddled 1999 winner Manistique and 2006 winner Hollywood Story.
Jockey David Flores, who rode Diamond Diva to a dramatic victory in the $750,000 CashCall Mile earlier on the card, completed a nice double as he guided odds-on favorite Street Boss to a half-length victory over Eastern shipper Elite Squadron in the $300,000 Triple Bend Handicap.
Street Boss, also a son of Street Cry, moved five-wide on the turn for home while covering seven furlongs in 1:22.42 to record his fourth straight win and his fifth in six 2008 starts. It was his first Grade I victory.
"Being six-wide it was scary because it's hard to win losing that much ground," trainer Bruce Headley said. "I was very pleased with the race. David said he didn't beat him up any, he just kind of coasted in although he tapped him twice. He was crowded on that turn and he got a little tired so he didn't have enough room to switch him to the right lead. He's been winning on the left lead, if he would have switched to the right, I think he would have won by more."
In the $106,000 Hollywood Juvenile Championship, even-money favorite Azul Leon moved into contention while five-wide on the turn for home and went on to an easy four-length victory over 30-1 shot Making Dreams under jockey Rafael Bejarano.
Azul Leon, trained by Doug O'Neill for Joseph Lacombe, covered six furlongs on Cushion Track in 1:10.88 to remain perfect in two starts. The bay son of Lion Heart boosted his earnings to $92,400 with the winner's check of $63,600.
"From the three-eighths it was pretty clear that my horse started running and I just let him go," Bejarano said. "It was a very easy race. When you've got that much the best horse, you can do anything you want."
