Zindaya streaks to second straight stakes triumph

Zindaya pulled away in the Belmont Park turf course stretch to score by 2 ½-lengths in Thursday’s $150,000 Intercontinental S., the second consecutive stakes victory for the 4-year-old daughter of More Than Ready.

More Than Ready’s double-digit tally of 2015 stakes winners includes graded winners in South Africa, Australia, and the United States. 

In the Intercontinental, Believe in Charlie set the half-mile pace in :46.61 before Zindaya took command at the top of the stretch to get the seven furlongs in 1:22.17 over the “good” turf.

“I told (jockey Manny Franco) before the race to just be careful with the pace scenario. It’s not the same—it’s not a six-furlong race anymore,” winning trainer Christophe Clement said. “I thought seven-eighths was fine. She ran a mile last year in California. She almost got the mile, so I was pretty sure she could get the seven-eighths today.”

“I just followed Mr. Clement’s instructions,” Franco added. “He said if someone wants to go, just sit behind them and save the horse until the very end, because today is seven furlongs and she’s won at six. We did it. I feel comfortable with her. I know her and she’s a nice filly.”

It was the fourth win from nine starts for Zindaya, who raised her career earnings to $286,740. Her previous black-type win came May 1 in the $100,000 License Fee S. She was also third in last year’s Autumn Miss S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

Zindaya was bred in Kentucky by Grapestock and is a half-sister to Jamaica H. (G1) winner Western Aristocrat.