Mythical mare Zenyatta pulled a switch, coming into the final stretch, on front-runner Switch to win Oak Tree Racing’s 2010 $250,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at California’s Hollywood Park on October 2nd.
With jockey Mike Smith aboard, Zenyatta won by a half-length, surging across the finish line on the cushion track. Trainer John Shirreffs and exercise rider Steve Willard gasped in unison, as the supermare streaked across the finish line after the 1 1/6-mile race.
Zenyatta (Street Cry x Vertigineux by Kris S) completed the race in 1:42.97, earning her 11th victory on a 1 1/16-mile course and her 13th straight Grade I triumph.
“She has so much heart,” said Zenyatta’s understated trainer, John Sherriffs. “She’s a heart-stopper.”
Switch (under Alonso Quinonez) finished second for trainer John Sadler, followed by Moon de French and Satans Quick Chick in a dead heat for third. Emmy Darling came in fifth. The sixth entry, Rinterval, was scratched after she flipped in the paddock’s saddling stall and cut herself just before the race.
Cheering on Zenyatta at Hollywood Park, in the crowd of 25,837, were Triple Crown-winning Secretariat owner Peggy Chenery, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, actress Bo Derek and many other celebrities. Enthusiastic fans held signs for “Queen Zenyatta” in the Hollywood Park stands.
Zenyatta’s classic come-from-behind performance was a doozie – and one for Thoroughbred racing’s record books. The six-year-old rangy bay Street Cry daughter and two-time Eclipse Award winner, galloping to her eighth victory at Hollywood Park, blasted into Thoroughbred horse racing history again.
Zenyatta ties the all-time winning streak for Thoroughbred racers.
With her October 2nd win in the Lady’s Secret Stakes, Zenyatta has tied the record-breaking winning streak of Peppers Pride, who won 19 races in a row. (Peppers Pride retired in 2008.)
Zenyatta tops North American earnings records for females.
With total career earnings now reaching $6,404.580, Zenyatta has surpassed the racing profitability of the legendary Ouija Board (retired in 2006), who previously held the career earnings record at $6,334,296.
Zenyatta holds a trio of three-peats and may grab another at the Breeders’ Cup.
After her October 2nd Lady’s Secret Stakes triumph at Hollywood Park Racetrack, Zenyatta now boasts a whopping trio of three-peat wins:
- Zenyatta won the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
- Zenyatta won the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar Racetrack in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
- Zenyatta won the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Hollywood Park in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In fact, the Lady’s Secret Stakes will be renamed as the Zenyatta Stakes. The name change was delayed for a year, at the request of Zenyatta’s connections, because the popular and seemingly unstoppable racehorse was participating in the event again this year.
Zenyatta is headed back to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Although her Lady’s Secret Stakes earned Zenyatta an automatic spot in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Lady’s Classic (a race she won in 2008), Zenyatta’s contacts are pointing the undefeated racehorse for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. In 2009, Zenyatta blasted past a field of all-male opponents to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. This fall, she is expected to return to defend her title.
The 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic, slated for the first weekend of November at Louisville’s Churchill Downs, is likely to be Zenyatta’s final race – and perhaps her record-breaking 20th victory in a row.
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