Zenyatta to face eight in Santa Margarita

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion mare Zenyatta makes her 2010 debut Saturday in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita Park. The six-year-old will take on eight other older females in the 1 1/8- mile race.

Zenyatta, trained by John Shirreffs, will start from post eight with Mike Smith again having the mount. Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, Zenyatta is undefeated in 14 career starts for nearly $5.5 million.

"I'm an owner and a fan," Jerry Moss said recently, "and a fan and an owner. "We're lucky to have this horse. Right now, she's progressing really well and her presence is good for the game, because I would agree that racing needs all the help it can get."

The last two years Zenyatta has been voted champion older female and for 2009 finished second for Horse of the Year to Rachel Alexandra. She won the 2008 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic and last year became the first female to capture the Breeders' Cup Classic.

If all goes well on Saturday, Zenyatta will finally meet Rachel Alexandra in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park on Friday, April 9.

"It's very exciting," Moss said about the Apple Blossom. "We like Oaklawn. We've been there a couple of times."

The mare won the Apple Blossom two years ago.

Rachel Alexandra will be in this Saturday's $200,000 New Orleans Ladies at the Fair Grounds.

Here is the full field for the Santa Margarita in post position order: Dance to My Tune, Martin Garcia; Pretty Katherine, Joel Rosario; Made for Magic. Omar Berrio; Pretty Unusual, Chantal Sutherland; Striking Dancer, Alex Solis; Powerofvoodoo, Tyler Kaplan; Gripsholm Castle, Victor Espinoza; Zenyatta, Mike Smith and Floating Heart, Joe Talamo.

The Santa Margarita has a post-time of 6:36 p.m. (et).

Coming up about an hour later will be the $150,000 San Felipe Stakes for three-year-olds. The 1 1/16-mile race is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, April 3.

The seven horse field features undefeated gelding Caracortado. The chestnut three-year-old is perfect in five career starts for $199,200. Last month he won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita with regular rider Paul Atkinson. The pair will start from the outside post on Saturday.

"It doesn't seem like distance will be a problem for him, either," Atkinson said. "Like in the Lewis, he just waited, and sitting on him, it was kind of like, 'Can we go now? How about now? Are we ready yet?' When I let him go, he just turns it on and gives you everything he's got."

Here is the complete field for the San Felipe in post position order: Stephen's Got Hope, Tyler Baze; Interactif, Rafael Bejarano; Erbeia, Alex Solis; American Lion, Julien Leparoux; Sidney's Candy, Joe Talamo; Dave in Dixie, Joel Rosario and Caracortado, Paul Atkinson.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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