No Plans Yet for Zagora
Zagora seems to have come away from her winning effort in the Grade 1 Diana in good order, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday morning. No plans have been made for her next start and Brown said he was likely to give the filly some time after her career-best performance.
“So far, so good,” Brown noted. “She’s a happy horse this morning. We’ll see how she comes out of it – there are so many options with a horse like that. I’d say she ran a lifetime number, so I’m going to want a little time with her. Five or six weeks at least – I won’t run her back inside of five weeks, I’ll tell you that.”
It was the first Grade 1 victory for both horse and trainer, and came after the French-bred filly had collected three runner-up finishes and one third in graded stakes company since coming to this country last fall.
Brown also worked a pair of talented grass fillies over the Oklahoma turf course Sunday, sending out Stacelita, another French filly whom he trains for Martin Schwartz, Zagora’s owner, with Desert Sage, a British import. Stacelita was clocked in 1:00.95 for five furlongs, while Desert Sage checked in at 1:01.40.
Like Zagora, Stacelita was trained in France by Jean-Claude Rouget, who was the trainer of record for her first U.S. start, a third-place effort in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park on July 2. The work was Stacelita’s third for Brown, who liked what he saw as the filly prepares for Arlington Park’s Grade 1 Beverly D. on August 13.
“She’s showing more life this week,” Brown said. “I thought the UN race might have just knocked her down – she was just a little bit quiet last week and they tell me she’s normally a high-strung horse. This week I’ve seen her squealing and jumping around like they told me she would. I thought she was a little more in the bridle today, I liked what I saw. This filly’s overcome a lot, shipping, and running right off the plane in the UN against boys, and had a wide trip. She’s a tough one.”
Desert Sage, who was fourth in the Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap at Parx on July 4, could be headed for the Grade 2 Ballston Spa on Travers Day, August 27, Brown revealed.
“She had kind of a funny trip at Parx last time,” Brown said. “The jock pulled her out of cover too early – I mean, just the way it set up – and she was a little rank. She runs better in cover and the turns might have just a touch sharp for her over there at Parx, it wasn’t her normal race.”