Zagora to counter Keertana on 4th February at Tampa Bay Downs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes
Zagora is French bred owned by Martin Schwartz and is a five-year-old mare of Green Tune out of Zaneton. She is headed for the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes on 4th February at Tampa Bay Downs which will be raced over a
distance of 1 1/16 miles and is good to go with a lineup of ten contestants.
Zagora raced twice through 2010, on 13th June she finished fifth in the Grade 1, Prix de Diane at Chantilly raced over 1 5/16 miles. She then came second in the Grade 1, Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup on 16th October
at Keeneland which was raced over 1 1/8 miles.
She ended her 2010 season as being a runner up, and started the new one in the similar manner as well. Zagora came second in the Grade 3, Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on 12th March, 2011. The race was won by Denomination
and Keertana finished second behind the winner.
On 16th April, Zagora came third in the Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland which was raced over 1 1/16 miles. Her participation in the Grade 2, New York Stakes on 25th June at the Belmont Park landed her
second as it was won by, Giants Play, and third in line was Hibaayeb.
After staying winless in the last five starts, Zagora won the Grade 1, Diana Handicap on 30th July at Saratoga, and then finished the 2011 season with finishing seventh in the Grade 2, Canadian Stakes at Woodbine.
“I brought her to Canada after the Diana to see if she liked the course for the E.P. Taylor, but she just didn’t fire up there for whatever reason,” said Brown. “It was a very uncharacteristic performance for her. Since I already had Stacelita for
the Breeders’ Cup for Mr. Schwartz I decided to just stop and freshen her up a bit and focus on having an earlier start for 2012.”
The six-year-old Kentucky bred Keertana is a mare trained by Thomas F. Proctor, and with her last two starts that she has won, besides her other graded victories, reflects enough consistency.
Keertana won the Grade 3 Bewitch on 28th April, 2011 at Keeneland, and then Grade 3, Louisville Handicap on 28th May at Churchill Downs. She is being considered as the one who will put Zagora through
the hardest of times during the race.
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