Ollie's Candy, Secret Spice Meet Again in Zenyatta

One start after Ollie's Candy edged Secret Spice by a head to win the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) July 28 at Del Mar, those two rivals will meet again in the $200,000 Zenyatta Stakes (G2) Sept. 29 at Santa Anita Park.

While the filly and mare division on the West Coast has seen no dominant runner this season, the Zenyatta will offer a chance to get into top form at the right time and place as the Breeders' Cup World Championships are just less than five weeks away at Santa Anita. The Zenyatta is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race that offers a "Win and You're In" bid to the Distaff (G1).

Of the six horses entered in Sunday's test, Ollie's Candy is the lone entrant with an opportunity to enter the Distaff off two straight graded stakes wins as the daughter of Candy Ride  will start Sunday off her narrow victory in the Hirsch at Del Mar. That effort marked the first start on dirt for Paul and Karen Eggert's Ollie's Candy since she posted a narrow victory in the Summertime Oaks (G2) in June 2018 at Santa Anita—the only other dirt start in her career.

Trained by John Sadler, Ollie's Candy made four starts on turf after that Summertime Oaks win. While she failed to secure a victory in those races, she did place in three graded stakes, including a runner-up finish in last year's Del Mar Oaks Presented by The Jockey Club (G1T) in August. Ollie's Candy will try for a third graded stakes win on dirt in as many starts in the Zenyatta.

Little Red Feather Racing and Bobby Flay's Secret Spice also has earned a grade 1 victory this year as the 4-year-old daughter of Discreet Cat posted a clear victory in the Beholder Mile in late March at Santa Anita. She has finished second in two other grade 1 tries this season as she finished second to She's a Julie in the La Troienne Stakes presented by Inside Access from Chase at Churchill Downs, along with her Hirsch finish.

The third- and fourth-place runners from the Hirsch also are entered in Sunday's 1 1/16-mile test in Roberta and Ward Williford and Chuck Winner's La Force and HS Stable and Martin and Pam Wygod's Paradise Woods.

Trained by Patrick Gallagher, La Force won this year's Santa Maria Stakes (G2) in June at Santa Anita. The daughter of Power followed up her Hirsch run with a turf try, finishing off the board in the John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T) Aug. 31 at Del Mar.

Paradise Woods won the 2017 edition of the Zenyatta in a 5 1/4-length rout of three rivals. This year the 5-year-old Union Rags  mare rolled to a 10 1/2-length score in the Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) before finishing second to La Force in the Santa Maria and fourth in the Hirsch.

Entries: Zenyatta S. (G2)

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, September 29, 2019, Race 5

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 2:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Secret Spice (KY)	Flavien Prat	125	Richard Baltas	8/5
2	2Mongolian Humor (KY)	Norberto Arroyo, Jr.	121	Vladimir Cerin	12/1
3	3Paradise Woods (KY)	Abel Cedillo	123	John A. Shirreffs	5/2
4	4Ollie's Candy (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	125	John W. Sadler	9/5
5	5La Force (GER)	Drayden Van Dyke	123	Patrick Gallagher	5/1
6	6Kaydetre (KY)	Martin Garcia	121	David A. Randall	20/1