St Trinians opts to face males in Big 'Cap rather than Zenyatta

ST TRINIANS (GB) (Piccolo), who remained unbeaten from four American starts in Saturday's Santa Maria H. (G2), will not face champion Zenyatta (Street Cry [Ire]), as originally planned, in the March 13 Santa Margarita H. (G1), and will instead take on the boys in the $750,000 Santa Anita H. (G1) on March 6.

"Vic (Stauffer, agent for jockey Joel Rosario) called me right after the race Saturday and pointed out that we'd be running for three times the money and we wouldn't have to face Zenyatta," trainer Mike Mitchell said. "Looking at it, I think Zenyatta would probably be about 6-5 if she ran in the Big 'Cap, so why face her (in the Santa Margarita) for a third of the money? My mare is really good right now, and it looks like some of the big shooters, like Quality Road (Elusive Quality) and Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat), won't be here for the Big 'Cap.

"The only negative is that the Big 'Cap is one week earlier, but we think it's enough time. She came out of the race really good, and the way she's been finishing in her races here, I don't think the mile and a quarter is going to be a problem. If you look at her races in England, she faced colts five times and she won three of them. I know it was at lesser tracks (Wolverhampton and Southwell), but she did it in big fields.

"I spoke with Dr. (Dan) Capen (owner), and we'd like to look at the weights. I'd have to think we'd pack three more pounds if we ran against Zenyatta, but if we go to the Big 'Cap, we'd get the three-pound sex allowance, and I think that's important going that distance. We'll look at the weights, but I'd say we're pretty much definite for the Big 'Cap.

"Beyond that, we're going to keep her on synthetic. We would not consider the Apple Blossom (at Oaklawn Park on April 9) because she's going to stay on the synthetic."

St Trinians, who captured the Paseana H. prior to the Santa Maria, has compiled a career mark of 11-7-0-3 with a bankroll of $268,587