My Master Plan, Zippit E to battle in Wayne Hanks Memorial
My Master Plan won the 2016 Wayne Hanks Memorial Stakes, and her form looks just as good a year later as she tries to win the $50,000 Hanks for the second time in a row Sunday at Lone Star Park.
But there is one major difference between last year’s race and this year’s – and her name is Zippit E.
Zippit E somehow lost the first three starts of her career while racing as a 2-year-old in 2015 and an early-season 3-year-old in 2016. Since then, she has been unbeatable, winning four races in a row while thoroughly dominating Texas-bred competition of the sort she faces in the Hanks, a 6 1/2-furlong dirt sprint restricted to statebreds.
My Master Plan and Zippit E are among the seven fillies and mares entered in the Hanks and are among four horses who exit the $50,000 Yellow Rose Stakes on March 11 at Sam Houston. Zippet E won that race, pressing the pace, taking over in upper stretch, and turning away a bid from Valid Bride, who also returns in the Hanks. My Master Plan rallied from last of 10 to finish third.
My Master Plan was the 4-5 favorite to win the Yellow Rose, and she brought a 2-0-2 wet-track record from four starts into that muddy-surface sprint. My Master Plan, trained by Danny Pish, typically stalks or presses the pace, and a slow start took her out of her game at Houston. She won her only previous Lone Star start, is 3 for 3 going 6 1/2 furlongs, and is a more accomplished filly – with earnings approaching $200,000 – than Zippit E.
But Zippet E, trained by Bret Calhoun, might simply be better. After two modest performances as a 2-year-old, Zippit E made her 3-year-old debut as a maiden in a one-mile Texas-bred stakes, finishing a distant second to her talented stablemate More Than Most. She then won a maiden race by more than 20 lengths and a pair of turf allowance races – first against Texas-breds, then in open competition – to finish her 3-year-old season.
The Yellow Rose was Zippet E’s first start in eight months and her first one-turn race since the summer of 2015, yet she won comfortably while earning a career-best 78 Beyer Speed Figure. Calhoun has given her ample time to recover from that effort, and the added half-furlong should only help Zippet E – the filly who stands between My Master Plan and a repeat in the Hanks.