Half-sister to Zenyatta wins Santa Anita feature

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) - Eblouissante (say Eh-blue-ee-sant), a half-sister to former Horse of the Year Zenyatta, won the $58,000 Mojave River Purse by 1 3/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Thursday.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Eblouissante ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.89 and paid $3, $2.40 and $2.10 at 1-2 odds. The 4-year-old is trained by John Shirreffs, who also handled Zenyatta during her stellar career.

"She's such a big filly,'' Nakatani said. "They ran away from her a little, so I just dropped her steady inside. The plan was to see how she handled the dirt and she handled it better than we thought she would. Obviously, it didn't bother her. I'm ecstatic she's back and in John's care. She's tremendous.''

Eblouissante is 2-2, having won at Betfair Hollywood Park on Nov. 16. The victory, worth $34,800, increased her career earnings to $61,800.

Pink Blossom returned $10.80 and $6.40, while Folk Dancer was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third and paid $4.60 to show.