Zazu’s amazing turn of foot the difference in the Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita on 1 October.
If anyone thought it was about Blind Luck in the Grade 1 $250,000 Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita, they were wrong, it was all about a race prior to it where Ultra Blend smacked past Zazu to win the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch at Del Mar, it was about payback.
The 3-year-old John Sadler trained filly, Zazu, turned a sweet day sour for the 5-year-old mare Ultra Bend, when she charged down the centre of the course to defeat Ultra Blend.
Under Joel Rosario, Zazu was dropped out to last and began to trail, the never worse than third in a career that includes 12 wins in 21 starts, Blind Luck.
However, it was Eric Guillot trained Champagne d’Oro, who broke nicely to go past Ask the Moon in the lead.
It was off to the usual start, as Champagne d’Oro got to the pace setting duties, going past the quarter mile marker in 22.66 seconds, and the half mile marker in 46.34 seconds. The pace setter kept the lead till the six furlong mark, and topped it in 1
minute and 10.28 seconds.
Under strong handling from Rosario, Zazu started showing some life on the track on the outside, as the Brazilian bred Great Hot and David Flores ride Ultra Blend started challenging Zazu’s run on the far outside.
Ultra Blend assumed the lead, but shortly after that passing the sixteenth pole, Zazu made her sparkling come back from behind run and prevailed over Ultra Blend in the final strides.
On the other hand, the 13 to 10 choice, Blind Luck ran last after being eased in the final furlong by her jockey Garrett Gomez.
Joel Rosario, who surprised trainer John Sadler when he dropped Zazu way back in last position, said that ability wise she can out run anyone, anytime, anywhere. Zazu’s amazing turn of foot in the Lady’s’ Secret can make anyone one second that statement.
Zazu earned $150,000 as the Lady’s Secret winners share, and boosted her lifetime earnings to $682,985, as she improved her stats to 4 wins in 11 starts with five seconds and a lone third.
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