Victory was 12th Overall Florida Cup Win for Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation
BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation saw their second homebred of the day take a Florida Cup race Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs when Souper Zonda and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. won the $100,000 Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf. Four races earlier, Live Oak Plantation’s Uncle’s Gold became the farm’s seventh winner of the AAA Feed & Tack Turf. Souper Zonda provided the first victory in the Distaff Turf for Live Oak Plantation and 12th Florida Cup victory overall in 23 editions of the annual event.
The Florida Cup features six stakes, all for Florida-breds, each with a purse of $100,000 plus a $10,000 bonus to a winner eligible for the Florida Sire program.
After breaking from post eight, Souper Zonda raced in second, a length behind pace-setting, 22-1 longshot Lets Go Koko through quarter-mile splits :23.14, :47.52 and six furlongs in 1:11.46. Ortiz sent Souper Zonda at the leader around the second turn but could not get past a stubborn Let’s Go Koko until the final strides, winning by a half-length in 1:41.94 on the firm turf. Let’s Go Koko kept second with Rugelach another length farther back in third. Dreaming of Abba, Souper Willaw, Notable Exchange, Charlie’s Wish and Miss Mary Nell completed the order of finish. Cella was scratched.
“I got a great post for her style and had speed inside, so I allowed them to break but did not want to get her out of the race,” Ortiz said. “The horse was keen early, and she was closing to the wire. I wanted to switch her off a little more to save energy for the end, and I knew she was going to give me a run.”
Trained by dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, Souper Zonda paid $5 to win in taking her second career stakes victory.
“It was a very good effort, and I thought Irad gave her a great ride,” Casse said. “It’s always wonderful to win for Mrs. Weber and with a homebred.”
The 4-year-old daughter of Curlin won the $75,000 Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf over a mile at Gulfstream Park two starts back on January 10. She was seventh in the Grade 3 Honey Fox won by Last Lips going a mile on the Gulfstream grass last out on February 28.
Out of the stakes-winning Scat Daddy mare Zonda, Souper Zonda has now won four of nine career starts while banking $187,282. Live Oak Stud paid $500,000 for Zonda as a 3-year-old at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. She is a half-sister to the Storm Cat mare Sennockian Storm, dam of Grade 3-winners Honey Bunny and Dr. Edgar.
Zonda has produced two starters, both winners, from five foals including the 3-year-old stakes-placed filly In Her Glory, by Constitution. She has an unraced 2-year-old filly, Bolt Island, by Bolt d’Oro; and a yearling filly, Fru Fru Can Win, by Practical Joke. She was bred to Munnings in 2025.
