Unzip Me Wins First Stake Run at Oak Tree at Hollywood Park

The Southern California racing circuit ventured into uncharted territory on Thursday as the annual Oak Tree meeting opened on a warm, humid evening at Hollywood Park after having been held strictly during the day across town at Santa Anita for over 40 years.

However, the evening culminated with the common occurrence of seeing Unzip Me, the 4-year-old daughter of City Zip, in the winner’s circle, capturing the Grade 3 $100,000 Senator Ken Maddy Handicap as the 3-to-5 odds-on favorite.

Click here for full coverage of opening night stakes action from Oak Tree at Hollywood Park.

The win marked Unzip Me’s seventh straight against females and pushed her career earnings over $480,000. She was last seen romping home by two lengths at Woodbine in Toronto in the Grade 3 Royal North on August 2, and was given a brief freshening upon her return home.

“We gave her plenty of time when she got back here and she seemed to get back on her feet,” said trainer Martin Jones, who scratched his other contender, Dotsy Jean, out of the race. “After the last couple of works I was pretty confident she was going to run a good race off how she trained.”

In her previous four victories, Unzip Me was piloted by Joe Talamo, however with questions surrounding his return from injury; it was Rafael Bejarano who was back aboard on Thursday evening. Bejarano had guided her to a pair of victories at Santa Anita earlier this year.

“Joe’s done a tremendous job on this filly and when he broke his wrist this was going to be his first day back riding so we were a little unsure of how that was going to go,” said Jones. “I felt bad that Joe didn’t ride her and in hindsight he probably could have rode her and that might have been a little better decision. Raf had ridden her before too and he knows her. I really wasn’t sure about the whole thing and it’s unfortunate he got hurt, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe’s on her in the future at some point.”

Unzip Me’s front-running tactics were put in jeopardy when she broke a step slow from the gate and Terrify was able to flash her speed and get the early edge. However, Bejarano guided Unzip Me to Terrify’s inside down the back stretch and she easily slipped away from her rival before opening up turning for home and experiencing no real threat through the lane.

“I was a little concerned going down the back stretch. She didn’t break real sharp,” said Jones, who enters the meet having won with 30 of his 144 starters on the year. “She just overcomes a lot. She’s a special horse.”

Her brilliant record of six wins in seven starts in 2010 makes her a legitimate contender for the $1 million Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf Sprint to be run over seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on November 5, but Jones wouldn’t fully commit to that race yet.

“We’ll see how she takes the race, and that will tell us what we do with her,” said Jones. “Maybe look at the Breeders’ Cup and there’s a couple other possibilities.”