Zipessa

Zipessa won her very first start at Arlington Park during summer 2015 and had a very productive 4-year-old season in 2016, winning the Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes at Penn National and placing in three other graded stakes races. She also finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

The City Zip mare finished fifth in her first start at age 5 in 2017, the Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park. She then placed in two graded stakes after failing to hold on to the lead, finishing third in the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park and second by a nose in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park. Zipessa returned in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park in August, and once again set the early pace before fading to ninth, defeated by five lengths. But the mare rebounded from that effort in the one-mile Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes, battling gamely with multiple Grade 1 winner Miss Temple City before losing by a neck.

In her next start, Zipessa scored a breakthrough Grade 1 win by settling behind pacesetter Hawksmoor and then surging past that foe to win the First Lady Stakes at Keeneland by 1 ½ lengths. Zipessa earned an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with the victory.