Shadwell Stable's Zaajel, a striking bay 3-year-old filly by Street Sense, stepped up from a maiden victory in her debut to a graded victory in Saturday's $100,000 Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Luis Saez, Zaajel took the lead entering the stretch from pacesetter Queen Arella to win the Forward Gal by 1 ¼ lengths. Lady Traveler, making her first start since the Golden Rod (G3) in November, closed for the place and Wholebodemeister finished third, with Dial to Win fourth.
The top four finishers split 17 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points with 10 for first, four for second, two for third and one for fourth.
Zaajel covered seven furlongs in 1:24.72. She paid $3.20 to win as the odds-on favorite. The filly broke her maiden Dec. 20 at Gulfstream by 7 ¼ lengths.
Queen Arella went to the front in the Forward Gal and posted an opening quarter in :22.77 and a half in :46.03 before Zaajel, who broke second to last, cruised to the front entering the stretch under Saez and held safe to the finish.
“She was misbehaving in the gate and she missed the break a little,” Saez said. “After that, she just kept coming and everything went well, and she kept coming.”
“I was really pleased with the outcome. I was pretty concerned at the start. She got a little antsy in the gate and missed the break, and she put in a long, sustained run,” Pletcher said. “That's hard to do, especially in her second start going from a maiden to a graded stake. But she's trained like a quality filly and she overcame some adversity today so we're proud of her.”
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