The return of Zenyatta

Street Cry’s sensational daughter scores ten out of ten after last-to-first G2 romp at Hollywood Park; new Stakes winner for Cherokee Run

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. She is one of nine Grade or Group one winners for Street Cry, inclduing the Darley stallions Street Sense and Street Boss.

Run It, a three-year-old colt by Cherokee Run, notched the first black type of his career with a one-length strike in the Alcatraz Stakes at Golden Gate Fields. The Mercedes Stable homebred out of Tracy (Theatrical) has now won four and placed five times in 11 career starts. 

His paternal half-brother Cherokee Artist ran third in the G2 Hanshin Cup at Arlington Park over a mile. The four-year-old is also a four-time winner and was runner-up in last year’s Ohio Derby and Barbaro Stakes.