Zenyatta gives weight in Vanity

Zenyatta (right) just eked out victory in last season’s Vanity (Benoit Photos)

Undefeated champion ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) will be giving away
13-18 pounds when she goes as the 129-pound highweight in Saturday’s
$300,000

Vanity H. (G1) at Hollywood Park. A field of eight has been entered
in the 1 1/8-mile Cushion Track test, with Zenyatta seeking to continue
her 10-race win streak while making her second start of the year.

Last year’s Vanity saw Zenyatta win by her shortest margin to date,
only a half-length, and she’ll be carrying five more pounds this time
around. She successfully defended her title in the Milady H. (G2) while
toting 126 pounds in her 2009 bow last out, her first race since taking
the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1) in late October. That victory
wrapped up her title as champion older mare, and Mike Smith, aboard
since the dark bay mare captured last year’s Apple Blossom H. (G1), will
take up the reins once again Saturday.

DAWN AFTER DAWN (Successful Appeal) will have to carry the second
highest weight in the Vanity, assigned 116 pounds under Garrett Gomez.
The bay five-year-old has racked up two wins this year, both in grass
stakes, and will probably relish the return to a synthetic track
following her past five races on turf. Trained by John Sadler, the mare
should also enjoy the stretch out 1 1/8 miles after running ninth last
out in the one-mile Redondo Beach S.