DEL MAR, Calif. - Zenyatta extended her historic winning streak to 18 races in Saturday’s $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar.
Zenyatta’s neck victory in the Grade 1 Hirsch, her fourth win of the year, was not her flashiest win of the season, the fastest, or against the toughest competition, but she overcame a slow pace to run down pacesetter Rinterval.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The only perception of a blemish on Zenyatta’s unbeaten record is the 2009 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, a race she won by a head.
The performance has been on trainer John Shirreffs’s mind for months, in advance of Zenyatta’s scheduled appearance in the same race on Saturday, where she will attempt to win her 18th race.
She was described as a kind-hearted creature – exceptionally fond of her stable cat – whose public flourishes included a tendency to drop far off the pace of her races and then come with a crowd-pleasing rush.
Before the start of a race, as legend has it, she would drop her head to graze, searching for tasty daisies. She fancied only a certain brand of water, and she was described in a journal of her day as being of “fine length everywhere, is good through the heart, has great wide hips, and good muscular quarters, fine shape, and enormous power.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes on Saturday may be the last career start in California for Zenyatta, if the undefeated two-time champion runs as expected in the Grade 1 race at Del Mar.
While watching Zenyatta jog and gallop on Hollywood Park’s main track on Tuesday, trainer John Shirreffs said the popular 6-year-old mare was scheduled to be entered for the Hirsch on Wednesday, with a decision on her participation to be finalized after she trains on Del Mar’s Polytrack synthetic surface on Thursday and Friday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - St Trinians, who gave the undefeated champion Zenyatta a scare in the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park in June before losing by a half-length, will miss an expected start in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 7 because of soreness, trainer Mike Mitchell said on Saturday.
St Trinians will be turned out and pointed for a 2011 campaign, Mitchell said. The decision was reached on Saturday after consulting with owners Dan Capen and Laura Chavers.
