Super Corredora's midyear mental break did exactly what trainer John Sadler hoped. The 2025 champion 2-year-old filly returned to the races for the Sept. 27 Zenyatta Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park for the first time since March. With a lesser filly and a lesser trainer, that might have meant she needed a race. Instead, she demonstrated that she has returned at full strength with a decisive victory.
As she did when victorious in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Super Corredora set all the fractions in the 1 1/16-mile Zenyatta. Rabeeba, an undefeated daughter of Curlin from the Bob Baffert barn, stayed closer than the rest, but neither she nor the come-from-behind Majestic Oops could catch Super Corredora.
Ridden for the first time by Joel Rosario, Super Corredora stopped the timer in 1:42.93, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Majestic Oops, with Rabeeba third.
The only anxious moment Super Corredora gave Sadler was when she acted up in the gate before the start.
"She's still a little tense in the gate," Sadler said. "We schooled her good for this race. We had to pop her out a little bit to make sure she was sharp, and then you go back and stand so she's quiet."
Rosario explained that "she kind of threw her head in a little bit sideways. You have to be careful with that because she can throw her head and miss the break. But she did great."
Sadler considered giving Super Corredora a prep toward the end of the Del Mar meeting, but he opted to go straight into the Zenyatta.
"I told Joel she's kind of a free-running horse—ride her into the first turn and then go from there—and that's what he did," the trainer said.
In 2025, Sadler sent Super Corredora into the Breeders' Cup off an 8 1/4-length maiden victory. The Zenyatta is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race, so this year she receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).
Super Corredora races for a large partnership group: Spartan Equine Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert Gardiner, and Michael Olszewski. West Point bought her for $400,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Woodford Thoroughbreds bred the daughter of Gun Runner -Super Simple, by Super Saver, in Kentucky.
Video: Zenyatta S. presented by FanDuel (G2)
LISTENUPSHANCE OUTPERFORMS EXPECTATIONS
By any metric, Listenupshance was not supposed to be a Breeders' Cup horse. He sold for only $10,000 as a yearling, raced for $20,000-$25,000 claiming tags early in his career, and trainer Doug O'Neill didn't pay much more than that to find a horse who could win quickly for a new, large, and enthusiastic ownership group.
But Listenupshance kept improving and added the Sept. 27 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2) to his earlier Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar. If he hadn't already earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) in the Bing Crosby, he would have snagged one in the Sprint Championship, also a Win and You're In event.
Listenupshance, ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, only had to beat two horses in the Sprint Championship after the scratches of 2025 Sprint Championship winner Imagination and Ahrens. He did it by leading throughout the six furlongs, with fractions of :21.98 for a quarter-mile, :43.86 for a half-mile, and a final time of 1:08.70. For the record, Maximum Bourbon, the 7-10 favorite, finished second, three-quarters of a length behind 6-5 Listenupshance and 2 1/4 lengths ahead of 5-1 March of Time. Maximum Bourbon had finished just a nose behind Listenupshance in the Bing Crosby.
Bred in Kentucky by Al and Michelle Crawford Racing, Listenupshance is a 4-year-old gelded son of Shancelot .
"He's been a really fun horse, and he's just getting better and better," said O'Neill, who trains Listenupshance for owners Run Fast Racing and Great Friends Stable.
The $10,000 claiming race O'Neill had targeted to get Run Fast that quick win overfilled, and they had to go in an allowance/optional claimer instead. They got the win for the group, and Listenupshance kept stepping up his game, to the point where he is now a multiple graded winner, a Breeders' Cup contender, and worth a lot more than anyone ever valued him previously.
