Charge (AUS) 2 c Zoustar – Queen Of The Falls by General Nediym
Despite failing to get his head in front as a juvenile, the Chris Waller-trained Charge showed a great deal of promise in his first four starts, most notably when finishing second on his last outing to Godolphin’s Gododdin at Kensington in April.
The son of Zoustar (Northern Meteor), who was crowned champion first season sire on Wednesday, had claimed victory in two barrier-trials in the lead up to his maiden success on Wednesday, where he showed plenty of zip from the outside barrier to move swiftly to the front.
James McDonald set a good tempo aboard the three-year-old colt before easing further clear around the home turn, and Charge duly kept up the gallop in the final furlong to register an untroubled three and a half length success at the line.
Although this was a small five-horse field, the manner in which Charge put daylight between himself and stablemate Altair (Zoustar) in second suggests he may well be the latest offspring of emerging sire Zoustar to go onto bigger and better things.
Charge is out of the two-time winning mare Queen Of The Falls (General Nediym), a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Elite Falls (More Than Ready), who was named as the Joint Top Filly in the 2010/11 two-year-old classifications after finishing third to none other than Sepoy (Elusive Quality) in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Queen Of The Falls has produced four foals to date, all winners, whilst Charge’s second dam Niagara Falls (Danehill) was a Group 3 winner, who also finished fourth in the Schweppes Oaks (Registered as the Australasian Oaks) (Gr 1, 2000m).
The black type does not stop there either, as Charge’s third dam Bracken Bank (Sir Tristram) was successful in a Group 2 and produced eight winners out of nine named foals, whilst his fifth dam, the stakes-placed Market Garden (King Of Babylon), is a half-sister to no less than three stakes winners. Queen Of The Falls had a colt foal by Zoustar last year and went back to him last November.