If there’s one thing we know about the main track at Santa Anita, it’s this: you can’t let a quality horse get an easy lead or else there is almost no chance of running down the leader in the stretch drive. The hard and fast nature of the Santa Anita dirt tends to play well for horses with early speed, a trait that Love and Pride used to her advantage to win the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes (formerly the Lady’s Secret) at Santa Anita Park.
2012 Zenyatta Stakes: Love and Pride Leads Every Step (Video)
The results of the Saturday’s Zenyatta Stakes are pretty easy to break down: Love and Pride got and easy early lead, put up modest fractions of 23.98, 48.47 and 1:12.58 through six furlongs, and proceeded to pull away from her rivals to win by a comfortable three and a quarter lengths at the wire. She was never seriously challenged inside the final quarter mile and was much better than the top West Coast fillies of Include Me Out, Amani (CHI) and Switch.
Amani, sent to the post as the 5/2 favorite, broke very slowly from the gate and could only muster a fifth place finish and was over two and a half lengths behind the fourth place filly, Via Villaggio.
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