Zingleman Girls Ready for Party

The Michael Zingleman-trained and co-owned entry of Zoobilee and First Down Patriot could grab favoritism in the $40,000 Party Girl Stakes for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares over 350 yards on Saturday at Louisiana Downs.

Zingleman, with Shelly Zingleman, owns First Down Patriot and they are the co-owners of Zoobilee with Curtis Crenwelge.

Zoobilee (Dashin Bye-Our Precious Secret by Streakin La Jolla) is the strong half of the entry with three wins in her latest three starts and stakes victories in her two previous starts.

The 4-year-old mare won the AQHA Members Plus Stakes over open distaffers two starts ago and then came back to defeat Louisiana-bred males and females in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Derby (RG2) at Fair Grounds on December 11.

While competing primarily in high-level allowance and stakes races for the majority of her career, Zoobilee has amassed sevens wins, two seconds and a third-place effort from 14 starts.

First Down Patriot (Game Patriot-First Down Catsey by First Down Jewel) will earn her black type if she finishes in one of the top three positions. She was claimed for $10,000 on October 22 at Evangeline Downs and then came back to finish a close second at the $10,000 level. She has been off the board in optional-claiming races in her two latest starts.

Sheza Fast Hemp and Bigmeanrunninmachine come off second- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the Harrah’s Distaff behind the proven graded-stakes competitor XO Kate.

The Henry Padgett-owned and -trained Sheza Fast Hemp (Heza Fast Dash-Ma Hemp by Hemp Meyers) was second in the Harrah’s Distaff by a nose as the odds-on favorite. She faced Zoobilee two starts ago in the Louisiana Champions Day Derby and was not able to threaten Zoobilee when she was handily beaten by 1 1/2 lengths.

Sheza Fast Hemp’s strength is her consistency. She has three wins and six second-place finishes in her latest 10 starts. Three of those second-place runs have been within a neck margin of the winner.

Karen Brown’s Bigmeanrunninmachine (Game Patriot-Wantsapearlnecklace by Rocket’s Magic) has also been winning or threatening the winner in her recent races. The Vann Haywood-trained mare has been in the top-three finishers in each of her latest five starts and was beaten by just a head when she was third behind XO Kate and Sheza Fast Hemp in the Harrah’s Distaff.

American Quarter Horse Association
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