It’s ladies’ day at Santa Anita with Zazu and Penny Chenery

It was the same old story in horse racing Saturday at Santa Anita. Females ruled. Women stole most of the show. Especially a two-legged one.

The result of the main race of the day, the $250,000 Las Virgenes for 3-year-old fillies, rang familiar. The winner was owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, is named after a record album from the 1980s, was found and recommended by David Ingordo and beat the favorite with a courageous stretch run.

No, Zenyatta has not been taken off the farm in Kentucky to race again.

This edition of the Moss racing empire is named Zazu, and her victory over previously unbeaten and heavily favored Turbulent Descent put Zazu on a fast track to the female marquee race of the year, the Kentucky Oaks on May 6.

Like Zenyatta, named for the 1980 Zenyatta Mondatta record album by the Police, Zazu was named for a 1986 album by singer Rosie Vela. Both albums, of course, were produced by the Mosses’ and Herb Alpert’s A&M Records.

One difference is that Zazu was not trained by Zenyatta master John Shirreffs, but by veteran John Sadler, who also had a huge day. In addition to the Las Virgenes, the Sadler-trained Twirling Candy won the prestigious $200,000 Strub Stakes with a stretch run and 4½-length victory that dropped the rest of the field into a lower class.

Sadler called the difference in the Las Virgenes the work of jockey Joel Rosario.

“It was a terriffic, terrific ride,” Sadler said.

Rosario’s ride on Twirling Candy was also excellent, and Sadler said afterward that the 4-year-old son of Candy Ride could easily go the extra distance from Saturday’s 11/8-mile race to the 1¼-mile Santa Anita Handicap on March 5.

Also holding up the male side of the day was Humberto Ascanio, longtime assistant to the late Bobby Frankel, who established his own operation after Frankel’s death in 2009 and has struggled to get into the winner’s circle. Ascanio’s Fluke and Proudinsky finished 1-2 in the $100,000 Thunder Road Handicap. Proudinsky is 8 years old.

“It’s been a rough go,” Ascanio said, “but it’s over, so we’ll look forward to more wins.”

Still, on this bright and sunny day, with the mountains gleaming in the distance and a crowd of 17,396 that topped this day last year by 6,248, it was the ongoing celebration of horse of the year Zenyatta and the presence of one of the first ladies of racing, Penny Chenery, that made the day.

Chenery is 89. She was the owner of legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat. The recent movie rekindled the fame and brought Chenery back into the public eye, where she handles those demands with the aplomb of a 30-year-old.

She was at Santa Anita to present the first Secretariat Vox Populi (Voice of the Public Award) in racing to the connections of Zenyatta — the Mosses, Shirreffs, Moss stable manager Dottie Ingordo and jockey Mike Smith.

Part of the appearance was a poster-signing session with Zenyatta’s team and Chenery. It started at 11:30 a.m., was halted for a news conference at 1 p.m. and continued later because there were still so many people in line.

“There was so much kindness, so much goodwill out there,” Chenery said. “My back hurts, but I’d love to keep signing.”

Chenery appeared genuinely taken aback by the fan reaction.

“The enthusiasm gives me the energy to keep going,” she said. “The more they smile and say thank you, the better we feel.”

She talked about the stress, strain and rewards of owning a star horse. She called the week before the 1973 Belmont, when Secretariat was going for the Triple Crown, “hell week.”

“The media was hiding in the bushes,” she said. “We were on the cover of three magazines.”

But when Secretariat won by his incredible 31 lengths, she said her show of emotion was somewhat misinterpreted as unabashed joy.

“I threw my hands up like Mayor LaGuardia,” she said, “but it was as much out of relief as anything else.”

She said she couldn’t see a lot of Zenyatta because she lives in Colorado. “I am horse race starved,” she said.

But she said she presented the trophy for Zenyatta’s win last year in the Lady’s Secret at Hollywood Park.

“I was in her presence,” Chenery said. “She looked me in the eye, then up and down. It was like she decided, ‘I guess you are OK. You can be in my winner’s circle.’ ”

Racing fans numbers may be dwindling, but those on hand Saturday demonstrated a keen sense of history. When Chenery left the poster-signing tent to do her news conference, the hundreds of fans still in line did not grumble that their autographs would be delayed. They applauded her.

“These fans are beautiful, lovely people,” she said.

Because of Chenery, it was a beautiful, lovely day.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com