Brooke Marie gets breakthrough victory in Pan Zareta Stakes

Brooke Marie captured her third race in a row on Saturday at Fair Grounds, becoming a stakes winner with a narrow victory over pacesetting Elle Z in the $75,000 Pan Zareta.

On paper, Elle Z and Love and Money were the primary pace players in the Pan Zareta, an about 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares, but Love and Money, taken a little hold of by her rider out of the gate, never got especially close to the front, leaving Elle Z leading through a half mile in a moderate 45.97 seconds. Elle Z held firm until the half-furlong pole, but by then, Brooke Marie had her measured.

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Brooke Marie and jockey Adam Beschizza had gone wire to wire winning a Keeneland allowance race in October, but this time Beschizza settled her into a stalking trip from post 2, letting the speed go and biding his time racing from sixth. Beschizza allowed Brooke Marie to move up into closer contention at the three-furlong pole midway around the turn, and after straightening for the wire, he tipped Brooke Marie outside Kela’s Turn for a clean run home. Brooke Marie gained momentum at the eighth pole and a half-furlong later bore down determinedly on Elle Z, catching her in the final two strides while winning by about a head.

“She’s not a one-dimensional horse at all,” said Beschizza.

Elle Z was a clear second, with longshot first-time turfer Kela’s Turn plugging along to finish third. Brooke Marie paid $11 and was timed in 1:04.61 over a firm course.

Five-year-old Brooke Marie is by Lemon Drop Kid out of Mamasez, by Giant’s Causeway, and is owned by Castleton-Lyons Farm. She nearly won the Christiecat Stakes in September 2019, but then went unraced until March 2021, changing barns from Christophe Clement to Jonathan Thomas before her comeback.

Brooke Marie started twice this past spring for Thomas, winning her second out before going to the sidelines again until the Keeneland fall meet, when she showed up racing for trainer Eddie Kenneally.

“She’s a big mare, so we kind of gave her a race at Keeneland, thinking she might need a race,” said Kelly Wheeler, Fair Grounds assistant for Kenneally, who’s back in New Orleans this winter after a one-year absence. “She impressed us.”

Brooke Marie, racing from behind rather than in front, impressed even more beating 10 female foes Saturday.