In case you guys haven't seen this horse run, she's really something...


from Bloodhorse:


Great Britain-bred St Trinians recorded her fourth open-length victory in succession since arriving in the United States and soundly defeated Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (gr. I) winner Life Is Sweet in the $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap (gr. II) at Santa Anita Feb. 13.

Next up for the razor sharp 5-year-old mare is likely a date with Zenyatta in the Santa Margarita Invitational (gr. I) March 13 over the same course at nine furlongs, according to winning trainer Mike Mitchell.

Ridden by Joel Rosario, St Trinians stalked a slow pace in the 1 1/16-mile Santa Maria and out-kicked Life Is Sweet in the lane to score by 1 3/4 lengths in a smart time of 1:41.73 on the Pro-Ride main track. St Trinians, who carried 116 pounds, went off as the slight 6-5 choice over the 123-pound high weight Life Is Sweet in a field reduced to six by three scratches.

“You just want your horse to be sharp and she was razor sharp," Mitchell said. "She’s just training so well. I knew I had a good mare to beat (Life Is Sweet) and maybe I beat her with the pace. She ran like I thought she would run."

St Trinians, a three-time winner on synthetic tracks at Wolverhampton in England, won in her graded stakes debut for Southern California owners Dan Capen and Laura Chavers. Victorious by 3 3/4 lengths in the Paseana Handicap in her last start Jan. 9, she has won seven of 10 starts on synthetic tracks.

“It would be fun," Mitchell said of possibly meeting Zenyatta in the Santa Margarita. "I ran against her a while ago with Romance is Diane and all we did was look at that big brown rear end go by us. This filly (St Trinians) is a quality filly. Nobody respects Zenyatta more than me so if I can beat her that would be a notch in my belt buckle.”

Life Is Sweet, second to stablemate Zenyatta in voting for the 2009 Eclipse Award for champion older filly or mare, was making her first start since her scintillating come-from-behind win in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic Nov. 6. She became the sixth Breeders' Cup winner to lose in her first start back.

Without much pace signed on after the scratch of Czechers, the race did not set up well for Life Is Sweet, who lagged at the back of the field as outsider Once Upon A Grace took the early lead from Zardana and carved easy fractions of :23.98 and :48.03 while on a six-length lead. That edge evaporated quickly after that, though, as Zardana took over at the six-furlong point in 1:12.47, with Mushka and My Baby Baby in close pursuit. St Trinians continued to stalk in fourth as Life Is Sweet made her bid from the back coming into the stretch.

St. Trinians, four wide and charging on the outside of the leaders, flashed a great turn of foot to get the lead inside the eighth pole. Under some left-handed urging from Rosario she quickly took command and won with something left.

“I wanted to keep her outside, because when those other horses stopped, I didn’t want to have to slow her down," said Rosario, who has ridden St Trinians in her last three races. "Once she gets rolling, I don’t want to get her stopped. She’s a real nice little filly and she always tries hard. She ran huge last time and she did again today.”

Life Is Sweet finished up well to edge 19-1 shot My Baby Baby by a half-length for second while not seriously threatening the winner.

Brazilian-bred Zardana, coming off a victory in the Bayakoa Handicap (gr. II) at Hollywood Park Dec. 5, finished fourth. Mushka, second to Life Is Sweet in the Breeders' Cup, faded to fifth, with Once Upon A Grace last.

St Trinians made her American debut last March at Santa Anita, winning an optional claiming allowance by four lengths. She returned to action at Hollywood Park Dec. 3, whipping second-level allowance foes by seven lengths and followed that up with her lopsided win in the Paseana five weeks later. She earned $150,000 for the Santa Maria triumph, boosting her career purse total $268,587 while recording a 7-0-3 mark in 11 races.

By Piccolo out of Cherrycombe-Row (by Classic Cliche), the bay mare was bred by Mrs. E.L. Hunter.

The winner paid $4.60, $2.60, and $2.60 while topping an $11.40 exacta. Life Is Sweet, who lost for just the second time in six starts over the Santa Anita main track, returned $2.40 and $2.40. My Baby Baby, trained by Ken McPeek, was $11.40 to show.

Pretty Unusual, who is entered in the La Canada Stakes (gr. II) Feb. 14, and Spring Style were also scratched.

well they are going to change it so its not a huge weight differ...well i would worry if it was anywhere else but you are talking about her home turf in which she loves...I think mike will have her sitting close enough to mow them down...

I was actually hoping that St Trinians would go straight to the Apple Blossom rather than facing Zenyatta beforehand. Would've made for a very nice exacta if they BOTH beat Rachel. But now i think the cat might be out of the bag before they get to Oaklawn. Assuming that St Trinians winds up there (i've heard no mention yet). Wouldn't surprise me if St Trinians gave Zenyatta a real battle, especially knowing Zenyatta won't be fully cranked. And how anti-climatic would it be if Zenyatta (or Rachel, for that matter) lost in their prep race?

well i just heard if they do change the race for zenyatta that they will run her in the big cap instead of running her against zenyatta..

I've grown to become a big fan of this horse.
Life is Sweet was huge play against for me on Saturday and this one seemed like a standout.
She could give both the top dogs a run for their money.

life is sweet will get an invitation to apple blossom

YouTube - Zenyatta v Rachel Alexandra -- The Best

My book has this prop up for the Apple Blossom

Apple Blossom Handicap
Best finish - Both horses must start for action
04/09/2010
1:00:00 PM 000 Rachel Alexandra (-170)
000 Zenyatta (140)

Getting 7/5 on Z just beating RA seems to good to be true. Any thoughts?

Probably yes. Hard to see her going much higher than that on raceday.

FWIW, i've seen the same prop here in Vegas @ +120, and i haven't taken it. It's not restricted to the Apple Blossom (so the book would hold onto your money indefinitely if that race doesn't include both horses), and i thought that i could probably get better than 6/5 on raceday anyway. I also wanted to wait and see what the pace set-up looks like before getting too involved.

But yeah, 7/5 would be more tempting, for sure. I wouldn't think Zenyatta would go higher than 3/2 on raceday almost regardless of who else shows up, and like you said, in this matchup she only needs to beat Rachel (though she'll very likely win the race if she beats Rachel anyway).

Prop got hit pretty good, Z down to +115