Zenyatta going in Louisville Distaff on Oaks day?

[NTamm1215]

Zenyatta, 9-0 lifetime, is ready to embark on her 2009 campaign following a six-month layoff, but owner Jerry Moss said Tuesday plans to bring her back in the $100,000 Grade III Hawthorne Handicap the first weekend in May had to be scrapped when Hollywood Park management canceled the race as part of $1.5 million in purse cuts.

"That would have been an automatic," Moss said. "That would have been what we would have done. I mean, we were actually pointing to that."

Zenyatta breezed six furlongs in 1:12.00 over Hollywood Park's Cushion Track on Sunday morning, showing she's ready to roll. All Team Zenyatta needs is a race, and it appears they might go in the $350,000 Grade II Louisville Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 1.

"It's a nice race down there, it's a mile and a sixteenth, it's good money and it's fun to be around a lot of people," Moss said. "Being in that atmosphere is always such a kick.

"But it's up to John. I mean, this is her first one back in a while and it's not the greatest thing to have to travel. We know she runs good on a traditional track, though, because she's proved that certainly at Oaklawn last year, and she's a good traveler."

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/sports/ci_12195330

NT