The brilliant Zenyatta, four times a winner at Grade One level, made her seasonal reappearance in the G2 Milady Handicap on Saturday and kept her unbeaten record in tact, the victory being her tenth in as many starts.
Conceding weight all round, Street Cry's five-year-old daughter, who won this same race last year, strode to victory in her customary fashion, swooping from last to first to take the mile-and-sixteenth (1700m) contest by a length and three-quarters, eased down by jockey Mike Smith at the wire. AllIcansayis Wow, who is also by Street Cry but a year younger, took third.
Zenyatta, who was bred by Eric Kronfeld’s Maverick Productions Ltd and runs in the green and pink silks of Jerome and Ann Moss, capped a perfect season in 2008 with victory in the $2m G1 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita having also won the Apple Blossom and Vanity Handicaps and the Lady’s Secret Stakes, all at Grade One level.
Street Cry, who returns to Australia for the 2009 breeding season, is now the sire of nine Group or Grade One winners, including his Kentucky Derby-winning son Street Sense and crack sprinter Street Boss, both of whom also make the trip from Kentucky to Australia this year.
At Doomben, Scattergun, a son of Quest For Fame, added more black type to his résumé when filling the runner-up slot in the G3 Amatil Permier’s Cup over 2200m. Bred in New Zealand by P J Mitchell, the six-year-old entire is out of the Zabeel mare Unbeleevable. Further afield, the Australian-bred Brilliant Chapter, by Commands and bred by Dr K J Doyle, finished second in the G3 Sha Tin Vase in Hong Kong on Sunday.
In the UK, Refuse To Bend recorded his second black type horse of the week with the Listed-placed run of Courageous in the Newmarket Stakes. Three-year-old filly Say No Now, who ran third in the Listed Height Of Fashion Stakes on Thursday, is entered for the Oaks at Epsom on 5 June.
