Zagora goes clear of the Grade 3 Hillsborough field and wins it convincingly
The 5-year-old Chad Brown trained French bred filly, Zagora, proved her mettle yet again as she bagged the Grade 3, $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs over a distance of 1 1/8 miles over the venue’s turf course on 10 March, 2012.
It was an interesting race run by Zagora, under jockey Javier Castellano, as the filly was kept well off the pace to begin with, and she started in the mid pack.
As the field swung past the first turn, it was the 96 to 1 shot, Megaspiel, who emerged as the early leader. Ridden by jockey Scott Spieth, the filly carved solid fractions in the 1 1/8 miles test, as she went 23.49 seconds for the first quarter mile, 47.83
seconds for the half mile and she covered the first six furlongs in 1 minute and 11.57 seconds.
Zagora still lagging behind, but Javier Castellano took it a notch up approaching the second turn, as he moved Zagora on the outside of, Federation, and asked her to press a little harder. Pressed hard she did and in one small burst, Zagora went clear of
five opponents.
In the mid stretch, Castellano fanned the filly wide, but in the process the daughter of Green Tune, out of mare Zaneton by Mtoto, Zagora lost a bit of momentum, but without losing ground, she got back to the task and found another gear to post a 1 ¾ length
victory over Federation, as the filly covered the 1 1/8 mile distance in 1 minute and 46.97 seconds, while Unbridled Humor finished third.
"I thought she showed good turn of foot when he turned her loose," said trainer Chad Brown. "Today was a harder race than the Endeavour so she can use a little bit more time to recover. My main goal with her this summer would be the Diana again. We know
she likes Saratoga and it is a very prestigious race to win."
She was slightly off the course record of 1 minute and 46.34, but much to her credit the filly was carrying the high weight of 122 pounds, and craved a solid opening quarter mile of 23 1/5 seconds.
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