Woodbine: Zadracarta's last two winners clash going seven furlongs

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jenny’s So Great, winner of last year’s Zadracarta, will be seeking her second straight win in the $100,000 overnight stakes over seven furlongs of turf here at Woodbine on Saturday.

The field of 11 Ontario-foaled fillies and mares also includes Moonlit Beauty, who recorded her first stakes victory in the 2010 edition of the Zadracarta.

Jenny’s So Great, who also won the Grade 3 Royal North over six furlongs of turf here last year, is returning to trainer Greg De Gannes after making four starts in Florida for Jason Servis.

“I got her back here at the end of April,” said De Gannes, who conditions the 5-year-old Jenny’s So Great for Bill and Vicki Poston. “Jason had her at Palm Meadows and then the owners sent her to the farm in Ocala, for a bit of freshening.”

Jenny’s So Great last saw action at Gulfstream on March 4, when she finished second in a minor turf stakes at five furlongs.

“Ideally, I would have liked to get a race into her on the Polytrack, the way she did before she won the Zadracarta last year,” said De Gannes, who had sent out Jenny’s So Great to tune up with a second-place finish in her 2011 seasonal bow. “But, considering the fitness level she arrived with, I decided it made no sense pushing her and having her run two races close together.”

Regular rider Jesse Campbell has been named on Jenny’s So Great, who drew the outside post.

Moonlit Beauty, trained by John LeBlanc, also competed in last year’s Zadracarata, finishing 10th, but returned slightly more than two months later to win the Belle Geste in front-running fashion over the course and distance.

A 6-year-old homebred who races for Bill Gierkink, Moonlit Beauty began her current campaign with a ninth-place finish in the Grade 2 Whimsical, a six-furlong Polytrack race in which she was beaten 6 3/4 lengths.

In a subsequent appearance, running for a tag in a second-level optional $60,000 claimer, Moonlit Beauty stretched out to 1 1/16 miles on the turf course and sat just off the pace of the front-running Wooly Bear before coming on for a half-length score.

“I trained her a little differently going into that race, trying to take away some of her early speed,” said LeBlanc. “She came out of that race dynamite. She’s been training super. Shortening up to this race, I had to wind her up a little.”

The other stakes winners in an interesting Zadracarta are Barracks Road, one of three in the field trained by Mark Casse; Dancing Raven, one of two conditioned by Michael Doyle; and Athena Rose, from the barn of Glenn Magnusson.