They’re still very high on this horse

Someday soon, Zenyatta will stop dominating the Southern California horse racing scene. Not quite yet.

Saturday, at Santa Anita’s traditional opening day, 35,292 showed up and the recent Breeders’ Cup Classic heroine danced a little, jogged a little and was clearly still the apple of everybody’s eye.

Lots of interesting things happened for the big crowd on this prestigious kickoff day to Southern California’s main thoroughbred meeting.

Trainer Bruce Headley’s M One Rifle won the big race, the $300,000 Grade I Malibu. John Sadler’s Evita Argentina won the $300,000 Grade I La Brea for 3-year-old fillies.

M One Rifle, under the usual heady ride by veteran Mike Smith, started on the outside from the 13th hole, went immediately to the lead and stayed there, beating the shorter-odds Misremembered of trainer Bob Baffert, who took second.

“The inside’s always the worst,” Headley said, “and that couldn’t have happened to a better man [Baffert]. If he gets the outside and I’m on the rail, he wins instead of me.”

Sadler’s Evita Argentina, perhaps dedicating her strategy to Zenyatta, took the exact opposite approach of M One Rifle. She dawdled at the back of the pack and then unleashed a huge stretch run to win going away.

“She likes to make one run,” said Joel Rosario, her jockey, who got her in perfect position to do so.

The day represented great beginnings on several fronts.

* Jockey Victor Espinoza won three races and was trying hard in second in the Malibu, aboard Misremembered.

* Baffert had the big wins elude him in the Malibu and La Brea, where his short-odds Gabby’s Golden Gal was seventh. But he got a victory with Concord Point in the 10th race that paid $14.40, $6.60 and $4.40.

* In the fourth race, Chantal Sutherland made a nice return to Southern California after a successful season of riding at her home track, Woodbine in Toronto. She found a hole down the stretch aboard Barry Abram’s The Town Lady, navigated it perfectly and came home three lengths ahead.

* Alex Solis, the veteran in the jockey room now, enhanced his Hall of Fame candidacy with three well-ridden seconds, including aboard Alphie’s Bet in the $100,000 California Breeders’ Championship and Starlarks in the La Brea.

* The Usual Q.T., one of Espinoza’s wins in the $100,000 Grade III Sir Beaufort Stakes, won his sixth straight race, the last three on days when Zenyatta was stealing all the thunder. On Nov. 7, The Usual Q.T. won the final race, a non-Breeders’ Cup event, shortly after Zenyatta had dazzled the racing world with her victory in the Classic. Then Usual Q.T. won again Nov. 29 at Hollywood Park, the day Zenyatta paraded there. Same thing Saturday. Zenyatta paraded and the Usual Q.T. won.

* The crowd of 35,292 was the best for a winter meeting opener here since 1999, when there were 44,018. The on-track handle was up 12% from last year, and the overall handle -- betting from all sources -- was up 1%.

Even the late, great John Henry couldn’t quite upstage Zenyatta. They unveiled a near-life-size statue -- 18 months in the making by artist Nina Kaiser -- of the gelding who won 12 stakes races in his career at Santa Anita. His trainer, Hall of Famer Ron McAnally, who still bears scars from nips and bites from the ornery John Henry, spoke warmly of the legendary horse and thanked the fans for “making him what he was.”

But the queen bee, certainly responsible for a good portion of the impressive crowd, was the now-retired, soon-to-be-6-year-old mare.

They paraded Lady Z out to the perfectly fitting sounds of the English rock band the Police and their 1981 hit, “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.” She got her name from the Police album “Zenyatta Mondatta,” produced by her owner, Jerry Moss.

The day had been overcast. Zenyatta took the track and the sun came out. TV announcer Kurt Hoover served as master of ceremonies and said that Zenyatta’s dash past the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Classic seven weeks ago has become, almost by acclamation, “the greatest moment at this track.”

Zenyatta paraded the main straightaway with ears perked, and exercise rider Steve Willard had his hands full, convincing her that it wasn’t time to take off and chase a bunch of other horses.

Her jockey, Mike Smith, rode her into the winner’s circle, which became almost like her home the last three years.

The Mosses, Jerry and wife Ann, as well as trainer John Sherriffs, smiled for more pictures and did more interviews. They are veterans now.

The track kept playing the race on the TV screens, Zenyatta storming past Gio Ponti near the wire and announcer Trevor Denman catching the finish perfectly in almost step-by-step cadence:

“This . . . is . . . un....be . . . liev . . . a . . . ble . . .”

And so it is, as well as its shelf life.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com.