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Brooke Marie Best In Pan Zareta At Fair Grounds

In a field full of early foot, the late turn of Castleton Lyon's Brooke Marie proved best in Saturday's $75,000 Pan Zareta Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans, La.

Speedster Elle Z set the pace from the inside post and was joined by far outside drawn Short Summer Dress and a surprisingly keen Elle's Town through opening fractions of :21.92 and :45.97 over a turf course rated as firm. Her speed on full display, Elle Z led every step of the way except the last inch, the one that counts, as she was seized by the marvelous Brooke Marie and jockey Adam Beschizza, who stopped the timer in 1:04.61 for the 5 ½ furlong distance. Kela's Turn (34-1) edged Elle's Town (36-1 for third). The 2.00-1 favorite Love and Money, exiting a first-level allowance win at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., settled into the pocket early but failed to seriously threaten thereafter, settling for fifth.

Training forwardly by all accounts at Keeneland and at Fair Grounds coming in, this Lemon Drop Kid mare has shown tremendous growth and maturity since joining Eddie Kenneally's barn last April.

“We freshened her up this summer and being a big mare expected her to need a race,” assistant trainer on the grounds Kelly Wheeler said. “She really impressed us at Keeneland and came out of the race well. We thought this was a good spot for her even though it was a bit of a step up and she proved that she belongs with this kind.”

Given a sensational ride by perennial meet title contender Beschizza, Brooke Marie broke sharp and settled five lengths back in seventh at the first call. Patiently going two-wide when there was no room in the tightly bunched mix, Beschizza took his live mount four-wide gaining position to fifth behind the slow starting Yes It's Ginger, who had rushed up into a stalking spot. That rival came back to her at the top of the stretch, pushing Brooke Marie out one lane five wide into the fresh paths of the Fair Grounds lawn. Fully extended, Brooke Marie surged to perfection for the head victory.

“She has done phenomenal since Eddie got a hold of her,” winning rider Adam Beschizza said. “She is like a fine wine; she seems to be improving with age. She's not one-dimensional–she's universal, she can close, she can stalk, be on the lead. She is a delight to ride as a jockey and I'm sure she is to train.”

With a field full of live horses looking to assert their presence at Fair Grounds, the last out wire-to-wire winner showed a new trick up her sleeve with her late-kick tactical advantage. With only 6 ¾ lengths separating first to last in the field off 11, others showed grit and growth sure to be on display for the Nelson J. Menard Memorial Stakes, the next fillies and mare turf sprint stakes on January 1st.

After going all out with a clear indication of returned form, Elle Z's connections were left wondering what else they could have done.

“She ran hard but just didn't quite hold on,” jockey Mitchell Murrill said. “Not enough. Elle Z's a great horse herself, but I guess today wasn't her day. She may have got a little tired on me towards the end, but she gave 110%. All I can ask for.”

The win was Brooke Marie's fifth overall, but first in a stakes (13-5-3-1). With the victory, the 5-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid boosted her career bankroll to $281,230.

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Rivalry Between Elle Z, Yes It’s Ginger Resumes In Saturday’s Pan Zareta

A ghost of Christmas past is oft-mentioned each December around Fair Grounds. Not just because she died on Christmas Day, but for the way she died and the tragedy of a career and lineage cut short. Pan Zareta, North America's record-holder with 76 wins, caught a deadly case of pneumonia at age 8. She had transitioned from racing to become a broodmare, but after failing to get in foal, she was returned to training at Fair Grounds. And at Fair Grounds she remains, buried under the infield grass and celebrated every year by the circuit's best turf sprinting fillies and mares in the $75,000 Pan Zareta Stakes.

A quality field of 11 female turf sprinters are programmed for Saturday's feature at Fai Grounds Race Course & Slots. M Bar O LLC's Elle Z, Mike Diliberto's lukewarm morning line favorite at 7-2, and Brilliant Racing & Tagg Team Racing's Yes It's Ginger (5-1) have met a few times before. There were 10 dominant lengths between them when they first met, favoring Elle Z. Then it was 1 and 1/4 gallant lengths between them favoring Yes It's Ginger in their most recent meeting.

With a final time .045 seconds off the Ellis Park course record that day, Yes It's Ginger's connections aimed for Fall graded stakes at Kentucky Downs and Keeneland. Neither came up well for Yes It's True's five-year-old mare.

“I don't think she cared for the surface that day [at Keeneland],” trainer Greg Foley said. “You kinda got to throw that race out. Even the Kentucky Downs race before, a little further than she wants to go. She came out of the races fine and we've freshened her up in between. She looks good, coat's good, and hopefully she'll be good on Saturday–we think she will.”

Looking at the last two races, bettors might assume Yes It's Ginger's form has departed as well. 6 ½ furlongs runs more like 7 furlongs at Kentucky Downs, then she ran in the drenched and downpouring conditions at Keeneland. Good excuses? Yes, but the fields have not corroborated the case made. Besides Change of Control, none of the other 22 horses have won since. Will this be the return to her masterful Ellis Park performance?

“I think that's the same kind of setup we're hoping for Saturday,” Foley said. “She ran a really big race that day–you felt good every step of the way.”

Stories of the Pan Zareta's wins almost always begin, “She broke to the lead…” There's no other spot a turf sprint champion wants to be, right?

In Saturday's 56th running of the Queen of Turf's eponymous stakes race, the catbird seat looks to be just off the pace and to the outside. And if things go according to Yes It's Ginger's connections' designs, that's where she'll be sitting.

“Elle Z's awfully quick, you gotta think she'll be in front,” said trainer Greg Foley. “There's one or two other pretty fast fillies also, so we're towards the outside post, that ought to be a great post for her to sit and pounce on them before the other kickers.”

Marcelino Pedroza, a go-to rider for Team Foley, will pilot Yes It's ginger from post 7.

Yes, it's true: Pan Zareta is buried in the infield at Fair Grounds. Stories have it that on the coldest nights in New Orleans, her hooves can be heard pounding the turf track in winning style. But that's not the only past Fair Grounds winner who hopes to return to form this Saturday.

Elle Z, the winner of last year's Pan Zareta Stakes (13.30-1), has not won on turf since. Her races coming in almost mirror her 2020 run-up: overmatched turf effort, disappointing dirt performance, surprise turf win, and then stakes to follow. Only this year, the Keeneland turf course did not cooperate and she is not entering off a win.

“This is a little bit different this year because I gave her a freshening and then tried to run her a couple of times at Keeneland but it was rained off or too soft, so she missed two races,” trainer Chris Hartman explains.

Instead, she ran into Bell's The One, who many believe would have won the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“I ended up in that race there, which was not intentional,” Hartman said. “I had no intention of running her in that race, but seeing that she hadn't run in such a long time and she was really sharp and everything we decided to give her a spin. It was a really really tough race and she got smacked around in there. Now she's back to her preferred surface and preferred distance.”

Breaking from the rail, Hartman's regular rider Mitchell Murrill has the mount.

Besides Elle Z, according to running style we can assume the ghost of Pan Zareta favors the filly to Yes It's Ginger's inside: Love and Money (Brian Hernandez Jr, post 6). Trained by Cherie DeVaux and owned by Lael Stable, this daughter of More Than Ready has put three lengths over her competition by the ¼ pole in her last two races. Summering in Saratoga, she tried going two turns on the inner turf, including the $120,000 Riskaverse.

“If you fight with her,” DeVaux said, “she does not take well to being restrained, which is why stretching her out didn't work. She gets keen early and then settles down.”

Moving up from first-level allowance company at Keeneland, she will have to face pressure unlike anything she has faced before.

“She has natural speed so she is going to do what she is going to do,” said DeVaux. “If there are horses in front of her, I don't think it's going to bother her.”

Would be a fitting end to this ghost story to see Ghosting Kim flying across the grass late. Drawn at post 9 with her regular rider James Graham up, last out she ran best to lose the photo—losing ground in her closing charge after having to angle out twice from behind traffic.

Or maybe Saturday's winner will find her form from her pedigree. Pan Zareta's tragic demise left us without her progeny to carry on her winning ways. Not the case for the dam Leigh Court who sends out first foal, Advocating from post 4. Winner of the 2016 turf sprint Mardi Gras Satkes, her filly by Uncle Mo will try 5 ½ furlongs on the grass for the first time. Trained by Michael Stidham with three wins out of six races, Advocating has tired in the last furlong going two turns in her last two races.

Elle Z's early speed is the most dangerous–she has the rail and will send.

“She's fast, man. Some of those others might think they're fast. They might enter but they'll be working hard to do it,” Hartman said. “She's fast. The fastest horse on the inside will be ideal.”

But she won't be alone. Look for the 56th winner to come from off the pace and listen for the ghost of Pan Zareta this winter when the New Orleans nights slow to a frost-bitten standstill.

Post time is 4:42 CT for the Pan Zareta Stakes. The nice race card begins at 1:05 CT.

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Bell’s The One Catches Club Car To Take Dream Supreme

Sconsin's scratch did not take any of the drama out of the Dream Supreme at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Instead, a sizzling early pace gave way to late moves by first Club Car and then Bell's the One, who passed Club Car in the final strides to notch another stakes victory.

Elle Z darted out of the gate to log quick fractions of :21.54 for the first quarter and :45.24 for the half-mile. Vintage Ready and Frank's Rockette were second and third early, but Elle Z could not hold on in the stretch, fading as Frank's Rockette came on to take the lead briefly before Club Car made her late move for the front. On her outside, Bell's the One and Corey Lanerie came running in the race's final yards, passing Club Car just before the wire to win by a length. Frank's Rockette held on for third.

The final time for the six furlongs was 1:10.02. Find this race's chart here.

Bell's the One paid $3.60, $2.20, and $2.10. Club Car paid $2.80 and $2.20. Frank's Rockette paid.

Bred in Kentucky by Bret Jones, Bell's the One is a 5-year-old mare by Majesticperfection out of the Street Cry (IRE) mare Street Mate. Trained by Neil Pessin, she was consigned by Brereton Jones and sold to her owner Lothenbach Stables for $155,000 at the July 2017 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sale. With her win in the Dream Supreme, Bell's the One has four wins in seven starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of 11 wins in 22 starts and career earnings of $1,520,275.

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Speedy Elle Z Takes Off-The-Turf Edition Of Mardi Gras Stakes

There were no fans in the stands, the temperatures were frigid, and beads were scarce, but as always, the traditional Fat Tuesday card at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots was highlighted by the 78th running of the Mardi Gras Stakes, and M Bar O's Elle Z turned it into a one-horse show.

With an abundance of rain in the days leading up and record-low temperatures on Tuesday, there was little doubt the Mardi Gras would be taken off the grass. Run over 5 ½ furlongs of fast track, only four of the 10 programmed runners stayed in, and the race was over almost as soon as it started.

With Mitchell Murrill aboard for trainer Chris Hartman, who was stranded in Hot Springs, Arkansas due to the wintery conditions there, the 4-year-old daughter of City Zip wasted no time going to the lead. She led while in the clear through fractions of 23.07 and 45.95 before stopping the timer in 1:03.81, winning by an increasing 4 lengths as the 2.30-1 second choice. Compromised slightly by an awkward start from the rail, .70-1 favorite Into Mystic rallied late for second over She's My Gem in third. Misty Day completed the order of finish.

“Yeah man, she's just one dimension,” Murrill said. “She goes out there and gives it 110% every time. Being a little match race as it was, I was a little iffy as to what (favored) Into Mystic was going to do. As it turned out, it worked in my favor getting out on the lead and stretching them out a little bit and she came through for us. Working her in the mornings you couldn't tell she was a turf horse at all. She definitely has a style that suits both surfaces.”

The 13-1 upset winner of the Pan Zareta while sprinting on turf earlier in the meet, Elle Z would return to finish second behind Into Mystic under similar circumstances in the Nelson J. Menard last time out. They've made up the exacta three times at the meet, with Elle Z now holding a 2-1 advantage over Into Mystic.

Elle Z broke her maiden at first asking in the slop at Will Rogers Downs in May, but she faded to fourth at Churchill in her only previous try on a fast track. With the win, Elle Z enhanced her career record to 9-5-1-0 with earnings of $195,524.

“Mardi Gras is a little different this year,” Murrill said. “Hopefully next year we can have all the people out here and celebrate the way you're supposed to.”

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