Lightly Raced Zozos Eyes First Stakes Win in Louisiana

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Lightly Raced Zozos Eyes First Stakes Win in Louisiana
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges Jr.
Zozos wins an allowance optional claiming race Dec. 17 at Fair Grounds Race Course

Barry and Joni Butzow's homebred Zozos  will vie for his first stakes score in the Jan. 19 $150,000 Louisiana Stakes (G3). The newly turned 4-year-old will travel 1 1/16 miles against eight other older runners at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Not having started since his 10th-place finish in the 2022 Kentucky Derby (G1), Zozos returned in a second-level allowance at Fair Grounds in mid-December. He won impressively and by open lengths after settling as far back as sixth and having to run down a game Treasury . After the race, trainer Brad Cox indicated that there was no rush to enter Zozos in a stakes, and he would likely run through his conditions, but here he is instead in the Louisiana.

"I was pretty happy with his last couple works and just how he looks physically, how he's moving," Cox said. "I figured it would be a good spot to try a stakes again. It's back in five weeks but he's doing well and that's the biggest reason I decided to run him in the (Louisiana)."

Lightly raced, the son of Munnings   broke his maiden sprinting last year on the Sunday of "Road to the Derby" weekend. He stepped forward nicely winning an allowance optional claiming race at Oaklawn Park, then ran in the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) where he earned his seat to Kentucky Derby 148 after setting the pace and holding on for second to Epicenter  . With three wins in five starts, Zozos will retain the services of Corey Lanerie who has been having an excellent meet. Drawing post 8, Zozos gets the nod as the 3-1 morning-line favorite.

Cox has also entered barn-newcomer Forza Di Oro  in the Louisiana. Don Alberto Stable’s lightly raced 6-year-old horse won the 2020 Discovery Stakes (G3) while with Bill Mott. He made one run in the care of Jerry Hollendorfer before being transferred to the Cox barn prior to the Tenacious, where he finished a creditable third.

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Run Classic - AOC, Keeneland, October 16, 2022
Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Run Classic takes an allowance optional claiming race in October 2022 at Keeneland

Bret Calhoun entered three in the Louisiana, including Tom Durant’s Run Classic , Jon Lapczenski and JIL Stable’s Mr. Wireless , and Martin Mueller, Don Ladd, Richard Reid, Joe Bowley, and Arvydas Cieminis' Gentle Soul , who is cross-entered and would "ideally run" in the Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes.

Run Classic, a colossal 5-year-old horse by Runhappy  , captured two allowance-level races last fall at Churchill Downs and Keeneland. In the latter, he romped home by 8 1/2 lengths traveling a little more than seven furlongs on the main track Oct. 16.

Running last out in Oaklawn's 1 1/8-mile Tinsel Stakes, he pressed and weakened, finishing a disappointing fourth as the favorite. 

"I don't think he liked the track (at Oaklawn)," Calhoun said. "He never was himself and wasn't comfortable and confident on that track. I don't care. (Even) if that last race was seven-eighths, I don't think the distance had anything to do with it. He's doing very, very well. We'll run him out of his own stall this time, and I think he'll show up."

If you are going to be the older route champ then you’ve got to beat the champ and currently that Fair Grounds' title goes to Lothenbach Stables' Happy American . When beating a field of 11 in the $100,000 Tenacious Stakes Dec. 26, the 5-year-old horse trained by Neil Pessin made his signature late rally, but this time he pulled away from a game Mr. Wireless to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

"He came out of it pulling the hot walker around the barn like he didn't even run," Pessin said. "He's doing great. He's an improving horse, getting better every day. Happy American's just getting bigger and better and we're looking forward to a big, upcoming year with him."

Earlier on the card, Wolfe Racing and Hugh Robertson's Two Emmys , winner of the Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2T) over this turf course last year, makes his 2023 debut in the $100,000 Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes for 4-year-olds and up going about 1 1/16 miles on the grass. Two Emmys, a grade 1 winner at Arlington International in 2021, has not raced since landing the Outbound Ike Stakes at Hawthorne Racecourse in June.

Also competing for black-type glory on Saturday's card is Susan Moulton's Manny Wah , who will seek to return to form after two losses in the Richard R. Scherer Memorial Stakes here Dec. 26 and Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Keeneland. The Wayne Catalano trainee, a grade 2 winner in last fall's Phoenix Stakes (G2), captured the 2021 edition of the $100,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes. Run at about 5 1/2 furlongs over the turf for older horses, the Duncan will mark Manny Wah's return to the grass after four consecutive starts on the dirt.


Entries: Colonel E. R. Bradley S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, January 21, 2023, Race 8

  • STK
  • About 1 1/16m
  • Turf
  • $100,000
  • 4 yo's & up
  • 3:30 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Freedom Factor (KY) Emanuel Nieves 118 Cesar Govea 30/1
2 2Price Talk (KY) Florent Geroux 118 Brad H. Cox 3/1
3 3Two Emmys (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Marcelino Pedroza, Jr. 118 Hugh H. Robertson 5/2
4 4English Tavern (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Deshawn L. Parker 118 Michelle Lovell 9/2
5 5Ready to Purrform (KY) Corey J. Lanerie 118 Brad H. Cox 6/1
6 6Sailing Solo (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jareth Loveberry 118 Louie J. Roussel, III 10/1
7 7Greyes Creek (KY) Javier Castellano 118 Paulo H. Lobo 6/1
8 8Big Agenda (KY) Luis Saez 118 Joe Sharp 6/1
9 9Gentle Soul (KY) Reylu Gutierrez 118 W. Bret Calhoun 5/1
10 10American Hero (KY) James Graham 118 Bernard S. Flint 15/1
11 11Business Model (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Brendan P. Walsh 6/1


Entries: Duncan F. Kenner S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, January 21, 2023, Race 11

  • STK
  • About 5 1/2f
  • Turf
  • $100,000
  • 4 yo's & up
  • 5:00 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Pyron (KY) Declan Carroll 118 Albert M. Stall, Jr. 10/1
2 2Manny Wah (KY) Corey J. Lanerie 118 Wayne M. Catalano 9/5
3 3Boldor (VA) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Steven M. Asmussen 9/2
4 4Evan Sing (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Colby J. Hernandez 118 Albert M. Stall, Jr. 6/1
5 5Angaston (KY) Mitchell Murrill 118 Lon Wiggins 3/1
6 6Sign of War (LA) Emanuel Nieves 118 Cesar Govea 8/1
7 7Yankee Seven (LA) Aubrie Green 118 Cesar Govea 20/1
8 8Kennesaw (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jareth Loveberry 118 Eduardo Rodriguez 15/1
9 9My Pal Mattie (LA) Gerardo Mora 118 Lee Thomas 4/1
10 10Surveillance (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate James Graham 118 J. Keith Desormeaux 3/1
11 11Bango (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Gregory D. Foley 7/2


Entries: Louisiana S. Presented by Relyne GI By Hagyard (G3)

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, January 21, 2023, Race 13

  • Grade III
  • 1 1/16m
  • Dirt
  • $150,000
  • 4 yo's & up
  • 6:00 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Business Model (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 120 Brendan P. Walsh 15/1
2 2Run Classic (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 118 W. Bret Calhoun 4/1
3 3Intrepid Heart (KY) Luis Saez 118 Joe Sharp 8/1
4 4Gentle Soul (KY) Jareth Loveberry 118 W. Bret Calhoun 12/1
5 5Happy American (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate James Graham 122 Neil L. Pessin 4/1
6 6Chess Chief (VA) Reylu Gutierrez 118 Dallas Stewart 20/1
7 7Forza Di Oro (KY) Florent Geroux 118 Brad H. Cox 9/2
8 8Zozos (KY) Corey J. Lanerie 118 Brad H. Cox 3/1
9 9Mr. Wireless (KY) Deshawn L. Parker 120 W. Bret Calhoun 5/1