Zero Blitz sacks rivals in City of Laurel
Frank Vespe
November 29, 2025
Owner-trainer Joanne Shankle paid $20,000 to claim Zero Blitz out of an April race at Laurel Park, and all the Jimmy Creed gelding has done since is run good races. Zero Blitz had won three of seven for his new connections entering today.
Still, neither Shankle nor much of the betting public foresaw his latest achievement. Gifted a perfect setup, Zero Blitz stormed home on the outside under new jockey J. G. Torrealba to win Saturday’s $100,000 City of Laurel Stakes at Laurel Park.
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Shankle’s two runners, Zero Blitz and Bold Diversion, finished first and third.
“We felt maybe the other one [Bold Diversion] had the shot,” 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 underneath, paid $43.80 for one dollar.
The Guadalupe Preciado-trained Otter Mischief, off as the 3-2 favorite, broke alertly to the lead while pressed by Chipotle, the Michael Gorham trainee whose presence in the race was in part to provide a lively pace for Pay Billy, the Gorham trainee who won a couple of spring stakes at Laurel before running seventh in the Grade 1 Preakness.
Otter Mischief led Chipotle through an opening quarter-mile in 22.93 seconds, while Chipotle took a narrow edge after a half-mile in 45.87 seconds.
Zero Blitz, meanwhile, was in fourth outside, 6 ½ lengths behind the top pair. But he was beginning to rev up a run.
Zero Blitz remained outside in the lane, while Bold Diversion was farther outside still and rallying from eighth and as many as 13 off the lead.
In a frantic final furlong, Chipotle gave up the ghost and finished fifth, while West Virginia-bred Pascaline rallied inside. But the two Shankle runners had the late momentum. Zero Blitz inched past Otter Mischief late to win by a half-length in 1:24.65, with Otter Mischief holding second and Bold Diversion another neck back in third.
Zero Blitz now has six wins from 11 career starts with earnings just shy of $200,000. Pascaline finished fourth, while Chipotle held onto fifth. Pay Billy was sixth.
“He’s good. He’s fine,” Shankle said of her newest stakes winner. “He’s easy to gallop and pretty much does what you want him to do.”
One race prior, 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 for seven furlongs.
Grayson’s Girl paid $13.60 to win and topped an exacta, with Think Fast underneath, that returned $32.60 for a one-dollar wager. Onyx Ten, off as the 3-5 favorite, finished third.
“I was trying to run her in the a-other-than [allowance],” said winning trainer Brittany Russell. “I wasn’t trying to run her here, but the a-other-than didn’t go. So I’m like, ‘Well, it seems silly to skip this. Let’s have a look at it.’ The more I thought about it, I’m like, this is where we should be going.”
Grayson’s Girl, previously stakes-placed in the state-restricted Miss Disco, earned the first stakes win of her career. She’s now three-for nine in her career.
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