Horse Racing: Harvest Moon wins Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita
Harvest Moon earned an all-expenses paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup on Sunday by upsetting Fighting Mad at Santa Anita for her fourth consecutive victory.
The upset victory came in the $200,000 Grade II Zenyatta Stakes, following victories in the Grade III Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar, a $40,000 optional claimer and the 3-year-old filly’s maiden score.
Flavien Prat has been aboard for all four victories, the latest a three-quarter length victory over the late-closing Hard Not to Love as the 7-2 third choice in the wagering. Fighting Mad, the 2-5 favorite who went gate to wire to win the Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 2, faded this time to third in the “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:43.03.
“We thought Fighting Mad would go to the lead and we wanted to keep pressure on her,” said Prat, who stalked the pacesetter from second all the way until the stretch, when she put away Fighting Mad and then had to withstand the late charge from Hard Not to Love.
“My filly had never been a mile and a sixteenth, but Fighting Mad was carrying 126 pounds (Harvest Moon, because she was the lone 3-year-old in the race, carried only 118). You never know with a 3-year-old against older, but we got eight pounds, so that was good. It turned out this was a good distance for my filly, and she ran really well.”
Harvest Moon, a daughter of Uncle Mo, has won four of five lifetime and doubled her career earnings with the $120,000 winner’s check.
“We have been really patient with her early on and that’s a credit to Alice (Bamford, breeder and co-owner) and Michael Tabor (co-owner),” winning trainer Simon Callaghan said. “It was said that this filly has a lot of talent and they were so patient throughout the whole process. She took her time to come to hand, but she’s come a long way in a short period of time.”
Bamford was overjoyed with the victory.
“I’m absolutely thrilled today, completely over the moon for Harvest Moon” she said. “She’s a homebred and she’s just so deep in my heart and in my family’s heart. It was so good to see her so well ridden today, showing off her beautiful stride. We lost her mother this year, Qaraaba, who was a stunning, stunning filly and each time I tell her, ‘Harvest Moon, go and do it for your mama.’ And she has.”
In the day’s second Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” race, the $200,000 Grade II Santa Anita Sprint Champioship, C Z Rocket made it five consecutive victories by rallying on the outside to beat the game Flagstaff by a head as the 7-5 favorite in the 6-furlong event.
Ridden by Luis Saez, the 6-year-old gelded son of City Zip was second all the way around until taking the lead in mid-stretch and out-dueling the runner-up. Collusion Illusion was third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Flagstaff as the winner came home in 1:09.14.
“There were a lot of things involved in this,” winning trainer Peter Miller said. “We recently sold a part of him to Gary Barber and Sol Kumin and I really wanted to win for those two gentlemen. Flavien took off him (in favor of Collusion Illusion) and I wanted to prove that he made the wrong move.”
C Z Rocket earned a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with his victory in the Grade II Pat O’Brien Stakes on Aug. 29 at Del Mar, and Sunday’s victory was worth a berth in the Sprint. Both races are at Keeneland on Nov. 7.
“We’re definitely leaning toward the Sprint,” Miller said. “He’s won the last (five) going one turn. We’re going to keep him one turn.”
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