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ARCADIA, Calif. – Eblouissante, a half-sister to Zenyatta, is bound for a graded stakes in March after winning an optional claimer at Santa Anita on Thursday to remain unbeaten in two starts.
Friday, trainer John Shirreffs said that Eblouissante, 4, will be considered for the $300,000 Santa Margarita Stakes, a Grade 1 for fillies and mares over 1 1/8 miles here March 16. The race could lead to a start in the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 12.
“The Santa Margarita is the one that we’ll look at,” Shirreffs said.
He said the timing of the Santa Margarita is preferred to the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes over 1 1/16 miles Feb. 16.
Shirreffs has had success at Oaklawn. He sent Zenyatta there twice, winning the 2008 and 2010 Apple Blossom.
“It’s a fun place to go,” Shirreffs said.
In the 2008 Apple Blossom, Zenyatta beat a group that included Ginger Punch, the 2007 champion older female. Zenyatta’s win in the 2010 Apple Blossom was her 16th consecutive win in a streak that went to 19. The 2010 Horse of the Year, Zenyatta was beaten in her 20th and final start, the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
Zenyatta won the 2010 Santa Margarita, her 15th career win.
Thursday, Eblouissante ($3) won a first-condition optional claimer by 1 3/4 lengths over 22-1 Pink Blossom, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.89. Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Eblouissante earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 83.
She closed from last in a field of five.
“She sat nicely and she moved up nicely,” Shirreffs said. “She stayed where Corey wanted her. At the end, she picked it up a little bit. She’d never been on this track, and it’s a sandy track.”
Owned by breeder Eric Kronfeld, Eblouissante made her first start Thursday since winning a maiden race at Betfair Hollywood Park on Nov. 16.
A 4-year-old by Bernardini, Eblouissante was scratched from an optional claimer at Hollywood Park on Dec. 15 when she struck her hip on a door in the track’s receiving barn. She resumed training the next day.
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She definitely is a candidate for improving.....hello 2nd race.... Doing just fine...she looked so nice and fresh in that post parade. Again, nice training!!
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(: a black beauty.... great job mr sherriff~
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As I said before on Thursday there were 6 races run at BHP that were a mile or over and 5 of the 6 were won by horses that were at the front the whole race. The only horse that won from the back of the pack was Eblouissante and she had to overcome slow fractions in addition to the heavy track bias to do it. 83 isn't a great Beyer but it was her second race and first start on dirt.
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If you have the money to fly a horse around and pick and choose a graded stakes races...well, pretty sure most of all of us don't have that luxury. If any of you do or have recently, just post it. Not saying I agree but then again I don't have those resources. Give it one shot and then regroup, if the horse is sound, gives the race and the track some buzz, what the heck. She will likely be overbet so....go to the windows and play!
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Why is it that people are always trying to discredit a horse winning a race. If you know racing you know that this was not the best race a horse has run but you would also know that she beat what was infront of her and she looks like she will improve. I, by no means am saying that she is the next greatest horse but she looks like a potential G1 winner. Great stride and she moved nicely around the horses without any urging from Corey. Good thing we dont have to wait long to see what she is made of. After March 16th we will have a better picture of what to expect. I for one want her to be awesome, not because shes Zen's half-sister but because I was the biggest Bernardini fan and she kind of looks more like him.
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Hopefully she's much better on synthetics or grass.shes a nice filly and she's zenyatas 1/2 sister but she will never win a gr1 on dirt based on what we saw so far.i wish her the best but she's got a long way to go to be in the same zip code as her sister.if she goes in the apple blossom I will bet against her with both hands.
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I wish nothing but the best and a long racing career for this filly, but it seems like a huge step-up from first condition allowance/o.c. to a Grade 1 stakes. Obviously Shireffs knows his filly best, but what would it hurt to start her in another allowance or overnight stakes first? She took her time in getting by Pink Blossom in yesterday's race, and the slow final time is at least a mild concern.
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Would love to see the Matchup between My Miss Aurelia and Eblouissante, I hope that other top 4 year olds will consider showing up at Oaklawn.
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Jay - can someone ask a question without you perceiving it as a attack on john sherriffs or is that not good enough for you ?
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A filly with limited seasoning being entered in a Grade I race? Why not run her through her conditions?
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AQUINNAH returns to a route and she couldn't have found a much better spot as a horse who wants to be involved early, as the expected pace scenario figures to favor those runners with a little early zip and she appears to be quickest of them all out of the gate; should control the tempo, and that should lead to her running to her best figures. CHARMINGMEGAN has tactical speed and likes to win, a combination that makes her easy to like; should get first run at the top pick.
