Temple City’s Zarina rallies for first stakes victory

Zarina swept four-wide into the stretch then held off Red Rounder’s late charge to win the $100,000 Martha Washington S. at Gulfstream Park, the first stakes win for the 3-year-old Temple City filly.

Zarina is one of eight stakes horses this year for Temple City, joining Grade 1 winners Bolo and Jicamon, and two-time graded winner Valedictorian.

Winner of three of six starts before Saturday, Zarina took up behind horses going into the first turn of the one-mile turf affair. Stuck behind horses for the first six furlongs, she moved off the fence and around horses going into the stretch and outlasted Red Rounder to get her first stakes win.

“This is a filly we’ve always liked a lot. The pace is what we worry about. Last time there was no pace,” trainer Chad Stewart said. “We always had this race in mind. The race three weeks ago didn’t go, so we ended up running [June 22], which we hadn’t planned on. We’ve always had stakes on our minds with this filly.”

Owned by her breeder Robert Roffey, Jr., Zarina is 4-0-0 in seven starts and has earned $94,750.

Stewart said that Zarina could run either at Gulfstream or Colonial Downs for her next stakes start.