WAR FRONT’s stakes-placed Pizzazz added a valuable stakes victory to her record Saturday night with a win in the California Oaks at Golden Gate Fields.
Racing over 1 1/16 miles on the synthetic track, Pizzazz jostled for the lead early on before settling in second under Kyle Frey. The WAR FRONT daughter was happy to race just about a length behind the leader down the backstretch but that changed around the turn.
The leading Empire House put up a brief fight but she wasn’t strong enough to hold off the challenger with Pizzazz having a length on the field at the top of the stretch. The race got tighter as they advanced toward the finish but the Richard Mandella Pizzazz dug in in the closing strides to keep her head in front of Freedom Flyer at the line.
It was the second victory and fourth top three finish in seven starts for Bass Stables homebred Pizzazz, who is out of stakes winner and multiple graded stakes placed A Little Bit Sassy. The family also includes Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Red Bullet and Grade 2 winner Suzuka Causeway among others.
Pizzazz is the 97th career stakes winner for WAR FRONT, who strikes at an outstanding 14.61% stakes winners and 24.25% stakes horses rate.