Zazu will go to miss the Vanity Handicap
Racegoers and fans alike where looking forward to see, Include Me Out and Zazu, clash once again in the Grade 1, $250,000 Vanity Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park on 16 June, 2012, at about 1 1/8 miles over the venue’s cushion track, but the much awaited
showdown will have to wait, if ever there will be another chance.
John W. Sadler, who trains the 4-year-old filly, Zazu, for owners Ann and Jerome Moss has withdrawn the filly for the $250,000 race because she is "off behind," according to trainer John Sadler.
"She's out," Sadler said. "We did a preliminary diagnosis with X-rays, which were negative. We'll do a nuclear scan on Tuesday."
In their most recent race, Include Me Out got the better of Zazu, and romped to finish first in the Grade 2 Marjorie L. Everett Handicap also at Betfair Hollywood Park’s cushion track at about 1 1/16 miles on 19 May, 2012.
Zazu, under jockey Garrett Gomez finished fourth on the day, and it been a long while since she finished in that position. Maybe she was rusty coming after a long lay-off in her seasonal debut, but whatever the case, the 4-year-old Tapit filly was expected
to bounce right back after tucking away a tough start under her belt for the new season.
Unfortunately, the leading contender for the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap, Zazu will be go on to miss the race, but she will recover soon and get back to the track as soon as Sadler deem fit.
Bred in Kentucky, Zazu in 2011 was the one to catch in the Southern California circuit, where she wreaked havoc from Santa Anita Park to Betfair Hollywood Park, and never finished worse than third in her seven-start season.
She posted three victories in those seven starts, including the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Park over a mile, and then went on to win the Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks at Betfair Hollywood Park over a distance of 1 1/16 miles.
Zazu grabbed another grade 1 race before closing out the season and the best one of them all, the Grade 1 Lady’s Secret, when she defeated Ultra Blend and Great Hot.
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