Stable Notes

ZENYATTA’S LEGEND GROWS ON DAY TO REMEMBER AT SANTA ANITA

“They’re here for one reason.”

So said one long-time racegoer Saturday, as he scanned the multitudes gathered throughout Santa Anita. The 20,315 who attended was twice that of a typical Saturday on-track crowd. Call it star power.

They were awaiting the return of Zenyatta, and she didn’t disappoint. She showed up as scheduled, and then some, winning her 15th straight race in customary last-to-first fashion.

BOREL TO RECEIVE SANTA ANITA’S GEORGE WOOLF AWARD SUNDAY

Following his ride on Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in today’s New Orleans Ladies Stakes at the Fair Grounds with a scheduled 3:15 p.m. post time, two-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey Calvin Borel will head West to California where he will receive Santa Anita’s George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in a winner’s circle ceremony following Sunday’s sixth race.

Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, Borel will become the 61st recipient of one of racing’s most coveted awards.

WAIT, NOT WEIGHT, IS OVER FOR ZENYATTA; 2010 DEBUT COMES SATURDAY

For Zenyatta, the wait is over—but not the weight. The imposing and imperturbable mare will carry top weight of 127 pounds Saturday when she makes her 2010 debut in the Grade I, $250,000 Santa Margarita Handicap, spotting eight who entered from 12 to 19 pounds in the nine-furlong race.

The undefeated 6-year-old mare, who has not started since making history by becoming the first female to defeat males in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Nov.

ZENYATTA ARRIVES AT SANTA ANITA FOR 2010 DEBUT SATURDAY

Looking every inch the champion in grand repose, Zenyatta arrived at Santa Anita Thursday morning, her dark bay coat glistening in the bright Southern California sunshine as she disembarked from the van that brought her from Hollywood Park to zero in on her 2010 debut Saturday in the Grade I, $250,000 Santa Margarita Handicap.

The 6-year-old mare was bedded down in Barn 66, where trainer John Shirreffs has a string of horses at Santa Anita apart from his main base of operations at Hollywood Park.

ZENYATTA TO ARRIVE AT SANTA ANITA THURSDAY FOR 2010 DEBUT SATURDAY

The countdown to Zenyatta’s 2010 debut is on in earnest.

HRTV TO AIR 2010 DEBUTS OF RACHEL ALEXANDRA, ZENYATTA SATURDAY

HRTV will present a special one-hour live show Saturday featuring the 2010 debuts of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta. Entitled “The Champions Return,” the show will be hosted by Scott Hazelton and Gary Stevens, who will be live at the Fair Grounds for Rachel Alexandra’s race, the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies’ Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. It will go as the 10th race at approximately 3:15 p.m.

WORLD-FAMOUS BOXING TRAINER ROACH TO PRESENT TROPHY AT SANTA ANITA

World-famous boxing trainer Freddie Roach was at Santa Anita Sunday to present the trophy for the $55,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes, in a winner’s circle ceremony.

The affable Roach, who celebrated his 50th birthday last Friday, is a former boxer who is a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame and he has been voted Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America on four different occasions.

RACING GREAT PETE ANDERSON SEEKS BIG ’CAP VICTORY

In a bygone era when racing was in its hey day, Pete Anderson rode with the greats: Shoemaker, Arcaro, Baeza, Hartack. He began his career in the late 1940s and was the leading apprentice jockey in New York in 1948. Among his major graded stakes victories was the 1966 Washington Park Handicap aboard Bold Bidder, in which he defeated future Hall of Fame inductee Tom Rolfe.

In the 1973 Kentucky Derby, he rode the great Forego to a fourth-place finish behind eventual Triple Crown champion Secretariat.

HOMECOMING FOR DAVID COHEN IN SANTA ANITA HANDICAP

Saturday marks a homecoming of sorts for David Cohen. The 25-year-old Torrance native was a fixture in the Southern California jockey colony before departing sans fanfare two years ago to become a regular on the East Coast, where he has established himself as one of the nation’s leading riders.

Through March 2, Cohen ranked 10th nationally in purse earnings with more than $1.2 million, and ninth in wins with 43. In 2009, Cohen won 288 of 1,209 races, an impressive 24 percent.

‘BIG’ EFFORT EXPECTED FROM MISREMEMBERED IN BIG ’CAP

A bigger and hopefully more successful Misremembered could make amends for finishing second as the 7-10 favorite in the Strub Stakes when the 4-year-old son of Candy Ride runs in Saturday’s Grade I, $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap presented by San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino.

“He’s feeling great,” said former jockey Joe Steiner, who worked Misremembered six furlongs on Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride Monday in a bullet 1:12.20. “He’s a cool horse. He’s really filled out and he’s going from a boy to a man.