Calder: Angelica Zapata pointing to My Charmer

MIAMI - Trainer Ron Pellegrini reports that Angelica Zapata, who has dominated the two-turn races for older fillies and mares here this summer, came out of her recent victory in good order and will have one more start before the session ends on Nov. 30.

Angelica Zapata returned from an 11-week layoff to post an easy 7 1/2-length victory in the Stage Door Betty Handicap here last Saturday. The win was the fourth in a row, all stakes, for the 4-year-old daughter of Sharp Humor since May 19.

“You give a horse nearly three months off, don’t train her too hard, and she comes back and runs a race like that is very impressive,” said Pellegrini, who trains Angelica Zapata for owner-breeder Herman Van Den Broeck. “At least this year she’s kind of proven what we thought about her all along, that she is a very nice filly. And makes up for all the disappointments and bad trips that made us shake our heads nearly every time she ran last season.”

Pellegrini said he’s going to put Angelica Zapata back on the turf for her next start, the Grade 3 My Charmer Handicap on Nov. 22.

“I’ve been looking to get her back on the grass,” said Pellegrini. “The goal this year was to win some stakes with her during the summer but not to push her too hard so we can have her ready to point to some of the bigger races when Gulfstream gets going in December.”