Grade I winner Include Me Out puts her three-race victory streak on the line in the $250,000 Vanity Handicap (gr. I) Jan. 16 at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Samantha Siegel's Jay Em Ess Stable owns the 4-year-old daughter of Include , who comes into the 1 1/8-mile Vanity off a smart victory as the 6-5 choice in the Marjorie L. Everett Handicap (gr. II) May 19 at Hollywood. The Vanity, like the Everett, is to be run on the Cushion Track.
Prior to the Everett, Include Me Out won the Santa Margarita Stakes (gr. I) by 3 3/4 lengths, defeating three opponents on a sloppy Santa Anita Park main track March 17. She began her winning streak with a romp in Santa Anita's La Canada Stakes (gr. II) in January.
Include Me Out has employed an effective stalking style to become a standout on the Southern California circuit since trainer Ron Ellis decided to stretch her out to two turns. She faces seven opponents in the Vanity, which is set for a 5:10 p.m. PDT post as the ninth on a 10-race program. Also on the card are a pair of $100,000 fixtures for 2-year-olds, the Willard L. Proctor Memorial Stakes and the Cinderella Stakes, which is restricted to fillies.
Bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones, Include Me Out is out of the Mazel Trick mare Don't Trick Her. The dark bay or brown filly has five wins and two seconds in nine lifetime starts with earnings of $453,600. Joe Talamo remains aboard the 122-pound high weight and they break from post 2.
Ellis previously won the Vanity in 1997 with Twice The Vice for owners Pam and Marty Wygod.
Zazu will try to provide owners Jerry and Ann Moss with their fourth Vanity win in the last five years following successive victories by Zenyatta from 2008-10. John Sadler, who won the 2004 Vanity with Victory Encounter, trains the 4-year-old Tapit filly for the Mosses.
A four-time winner in 12 starts who has earned $691,985, the 2011 Hollywood Oaks (gr. II) winner disappointed in the Everett, her first start in more than seven months, when she finished a non-threatening fourth at 9-5 odds. Joel Rosario, who rode Zazu to victories in the Oaks as well as the Las Virgenes (gr. I), and Lady's Secret (gr. I) last year, regains the mount
Bob Baffert, who has eight stakes wins to lead all trainers at the current Hollywood meet, will be seeking his first Vanity victory when he saddles Ellafitz.
Ellafitz set the pace in the Everett before finishing second by three-quarters of a length. Owned by Don and Ella Sivage’s D & E Racing, the 4-year-old Tiznow filly out of the Dixieland Band mare Skat Girl has lost two in a row after winning three stakes in a row.
The win streak began in the Bayakoa Handicap (gr. II) at Hollywood Dec. 4, then continued at Santa Anita with gate-to-wire victories in the Paseana Handicap Jan. 15 and the Santa Maria Stakes (gr. II) ) Feb. 18.
The Great Britain-bred Caelis, third at 22-1 odds in the Everett, will be making her first appearance in a grade I. Owned by Brous Stable and Wachtel Stable and trained by Peter Miller, the 4-year-old has been in the money in her past five starts in the United States.
Second behind Include Me Out in the Santa Margarita, Love Theway Youare unseated jockey Alonso Quinonez at the start of the Everett. She has lost 11 straight races for owner and trainer Myung Kwon Cho.
Atlantic Swing, trained by Ben Cecil for J. Paul Reddam, and Ed Tannenbaum's Zafeen's Pearl, from the Tim Yakteen barn, both make their United States debut after competing in the United Kingdom.
Yakteen also entered Rock and Glory, who makes her stakes debut after consecutive blow-out victories for Mercedes Stables. The 4-year-old Rock Hard Ten filly graduated in the slop at Santa Anita April 13 by 8 1/4 lengths and came back to defeat first-level allowance foes by 11 1/4 at Hollywood May 10.
$250,000 Vanity Handicap (gr. I, Race 9, 5:10 p.m.), Fillies & Mares 3 & Up, 1 1/8 Miles (All Weather)
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Rock and Glory (KY), M Garcia, 114, T Yakteen
2. Include Me Out (KY), J Talamo, 122, R W Ellis
3. Zazu (KY), J Rosario, 121, J W Sadler
4. Atlantic Swing (KY), M Gutierrez, 113, B D Cecil
5. Love Theway Youare (KY), G K Gomez, 114, M K Cho
6. Zafeen's Pearl (GB), C Sutherland, 114, T Yakteen
7. Caelis (GB), K Krigger, 114, P Miller
8. Ellafitz (KY), R Bejarano, 120, B Baffert
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