Joan Scott knew if Dr. Zic looked happy during the stretch run Thursday, the filly might be her ticket to a first Grade 1 victory in more than a decade of training horses.
With most of the attention focused on defending champion and Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Informed Decision, Dr. Zic that grabbed the lead at the beginning and saved her best for last - winning the Vinery Madison by an easy 2 1/2 lengths.
``You never feel confident, but I felt pretty good about it,'' Scott said. ``She has got a lot of natural speed, and she likes to keep rolling.''
The wire-to-wire victory with Kent Desormeaux aboard was her third in four starts dating to Dec. 30, and her second in three tries on Keeneland's Polytrack surface.
Dubai Majesty charged down the stretch to pass Informed Decision, the 1-2 favorite, who was third in her season debut.
``Wrong tactics today,'' said Bret Calhoun, Dubai Majesty's trainer. ``There were about three horses with legitimate speed, so we thought we would take back. Once I saw how they were going up front and we were back there, I knew we were in trouble.''
Informed Decision's trainer Jonathan Sheppard said there might have been some rust. She won six of seven starts last year en route to the Eclipse Award, but hadn't raced since November.
``She just didn't finish quite as strongly as she can do,'' Sheppard said. ``Maybe she was just a work away from being quite as good as she can be, but I'm not sure that one more work would have made the difference in catching the winner.''
Dr. Zic, who received $180,000 of the $300,000 purse, paid $33.40, $11.20 and $4.40. Dubai Majesty returned $8.40 and $3.40, and Informed Decision paid $2.10 to show.
Desormeaux, who rode the winning filly for the second straight time - both wins, said she continues to do everything he asks.
``When I encouraged her to go fast, she just lunged to the wire,'' he said.
Scott owns a share of the horse, who was hand-picked at a sale in Ocala, Fla., by another owner, Marette Farrell.
``She was just a real athlete, beautiful walker - a great presence,'' Farrell said. ``We knew our budget was limited, so we had to try to find the best value for the money.''
She has proven to be that, having now won five times in nine lifetime starts. She beat an impressive field Thursday, too - one that included not only Informed Decision but also previously undefeated Witty, who was fourth.
Because of the quality of the field, Desormeaux said he never felt completely confident until the end.
``That's always frightening,'' he said. ``When she laid her body down and started stepping for the wire, I did take a peek under my arm to make sure there was no one there.''
