Zero Blitz unseats rivals in City of Laurel
Frank Vesp- November 29, 2025
Owner-trainer Joanne Shankle paid $20,000 to claim Zero Blitz during an April race at Laurel Park, and all the Jimmy Creed gelding has done since is run good races. Zero Blitz had won three out of seven for his new connections coming in today.
Yet neither Shankle nor much of the betting public foresaw his latest achievement. Zero Blitz had a perfect setup and stormed home on the outside under new jockey JG Torrealba to win the $100,000 City of Laurel Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday.
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Shankle’s two runners, Zero Blitz and Bold Diversion, finished first and third.
“We may have felt the other [Bold Diversion] had the chance,” Shankle said afterwards. Bold Diversion was a close-up third under regular pilot Tais Lyapustina, who had ridden both runners in their recent starts.
Zero Blitz paid $26.60 to win as the sixth-longest shot in the nine-horse field. The exacta, with the favorite below, paid $43.80 for one dollar.
The Guadalupe Preciado-trained Otter Mischief, off as the 3-2 favorite, broke alertly into the lead under pressure from Chipotle, the Michael Gorham trainee whose presence in the race was partly intended to provide a lively pace for Pay Billy, the Gorham trainee who won a pair of spring stakes at Laurel before finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Preakness.
Otter Mischief led Chipotle through an opening quarter mile in 22.93 seconds, while Chipotle took a narrow lead after a half mile in 45.87 seconds.
Zero Blitz, meanwhile, was in fourth place outside, 6 ½ lengths behind the top pair. But he started to put together a run.
Zero Blitz stayed out in the lane, while Bold Diversion was even further out, gathering from eighth and as much as thirteenth.
In a frantic final furlong, Chipotle gave up the ghost to finish fifth, while the West Virginia-bred Pascaline rallied inside. But the two Shankle runners had the late momentum. Zero Blitz got past Otter Mischief late to win by half a length in 1:24.65, with Otter Mischief second and Bold Diversion another neck back in third.
Zero Blitz now has six wins from eleven career starts and earnings of just under $200,000. Pascaline finished fourth, while Chipotle held onto fifth place. Pay Billy came sixth.
“He’s doing well. He’s doing well,” Shankle said of her latest stakes winner. “He’s easy to gallop and does pretty much what you want him to do.”
A race earlier, Grayson’s Girl and jockey Jevian Toledo rallied from sixth of seven to win the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes for three-year-old fillies by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:25.01 over seven furlongs.
Grayson’s Girl paid $13.60 to win and topped an exacta, with Think Fast below it, which paid $32.60 for a one dollar bet. Onyx Ten, away as 3-5 favourites, finished third.
‘I tried to put her in the other room [allowance]said winning trainer Brittany Russell. ‘I tried not to bring her here, but the other one wouldn’t go. So I’m like, ‘Well, it seems silly to skip this. Let’s take a look.’ The more I thought about it, I thought, this is where we need to go.”
Grayson’s Girl, previously placed at stakes in the state-limited Miss Disco, earned the first win of her career. She is now three-for-nine in her career.
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