Four-year-old Street Cry filly Zenyatta maintained a clean sweep in her four careers starts to date with victory in the G1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park Saturday.
Her four-and-a-half length defeat of Brownie Points, with Breeders’ Cup winner Ginger Punch back in third, confirmed Zenyatta’s thoroughly progressive status and earned her owners Jerry and Ann Moss a cool $300,000 in the process. Bred by Maverick Production Limited, Zenyatta is a half-sister to multiple G1 winner Balance.
While much focus was on Aqueduct and the run of champion juvenile War Pass in the G1 Wood Memorial Stakes, in which he finished second, a half-length behind winner Tale Of Ekati after blistering early fractions, another Cherokee Run colt put himself in the Triple Crown picture at Hawthorne. Recapturetheglory’s four-length victory in the G2 Illinois Derby on his first start in stakes company earned him a berth in the Kentucky Derby on May 3.
Bred by Charles Jacobi from the Dehere mare Cold Awakening, Recapturetheglory is Cherokee Run’s 34th Stakes winner.
Elusive Quality enjoyed a good weekend with his southern hemisphere runners. The unbeaten Bernicia, who is being aimed at the G1 AJC Oaks at the end of April, went a step closer in her preparation with victory in a mile Listed event at Kembla Grange. Darley-bred out of Danelagh, by Danehill, she is a half-sister to the highly respected G1-winning duo of Vengeance Of Rain and Dizelle.
In the G2 Todman Stakes at Canterbury, a trial for Australia’s premier two-year-old race the Golden Slipper, Elusive Quality colt Related went within a whisker of victory, losing out by a nose at the wire after encountering traffic problems in the stretch. Bred by legendary 11-time Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Bart Cummings, Related is now guaranteed a run in the Slipper, for which he has been dramatically cut in the betting.
