Zaaki firms for Cox Plate after Tramway canter
The rise and rise of the Annabel Neasham-trained Zaaki (7 g Leroidesanimaux – Kesara by Sadler’s Wells) soared to further heights yesterday as the import sauntered to victory in the Tramway Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Randwick on his seasonal return, to strengthen his credentials for the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) next month.
Since arriving in Australia after his £150,000 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training purchase by Neasham and Blandford Bloodstock, Zaaki has won four of his six starts and, although having posted wider margins of victory than yesterday’s one-and-a-half-length success, including a seven-length win in the Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) in May, few victories would have appeared easier than this, with jockey James McDonald easing down the northern hemisphere six-year-old to the line, having opened up a vast lead at the 100-metre mark.
Aramayo (Poet’s Voice) ($41) and Star Of The Seas (Ocean Park) ($11), both ran on well to fight out the minors, with the former prevailing by a length and a quarter over his rival, while Dreamforce (Fastnet Rock) ($5.50), who has won the last two editions of the race, finished a disappointing seventh, but Zaaki was in a different league as Neasham now plots a route to the Cox Plate with her Group 1 winner, for which he firmed from $4.40 to $2.90.
“It’s a bit of relief, to tell you the truth,” Neasham said. “I knew he was going well leading into this but I just wondered whether 14 (hundred) would be a little bit short of his best, but he’s obviously got plenty of improvement left in him, so he should be in for a pretty exciting campaign.
“He’s shown me similar to last prep … But just the last couple of weeks we’ve noticed a change in him … the fresher he gets, the better he is.
“We either go to a mile or we go to the 1800 and the Underwood. We’ll just see how he pulls up and work that out next week. Obviously there’s a few logistics to work out if he’s to go down to Melbourne, but he’ll have one run down there before the Cox Plate, it’s just whether he has two. But we’ll let the dust settle and he’ll be hard to beat wherever he goes.”
Logistical problems for racing in Melbourne include the availability of a jockey, with regular rider James McDonald unable to travel to Victoria under current restrictions, but after his steering job on Zaaki he expressed his desire to stay on the horse for his campaign in Victoria.
“Anyone could have won on him today. He was electric,” McDonald said. “He put a good field to shame and did it easily.
“God help us these borders open up. I want to get down there (to Melbourne).”
Superstorm earns Plate ticket with Feehan success
Back in March this year owner-breeder Bob Peters lost his big Cox Plate hope Truly Great (Dundeel) to what was believed to be a freak snake bite incident, but the prominent WA racing figure has already landed a possible runner in next month’s showpiece after Superstorm (5 g Sebring – Stormy Nova by Metal Storm) gained ballot-free entry through a last-gasp win in the Feehan Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) at Moonee Valley.
Arcadia Queen (Pierro) has been Peters’ only runner in the weight-for-age feature when she finished fifth in last year’s edition of the race, and a decision as to whether the Danny O’Brien-trained Superstorm will embark on a Cox Plate campaign will lie with the owner.
“I’ll speak to Bob Peters and he’ll decide where the horse will be best placed,” O’Brien said.
“We really wanted to see how he went in the early part of the spring. I suspect the Underwood next run in three weeks to the 1800 metres. A big track like Sandown will suit too.
“It is only going to get harder. There’s a lot of really nice horses going around in Sydney today, so we’re pleased to get on the board today and looking forward to the rest of the spring with him.”
Under an excellent Damien Oliver ride, Superstorm ($6) snuck up the fence having travelled in midfield on the rails and overhauled Kiwi-raider and race favourite Elephant (Shocking) ($5.50) in the final stride to win on the bob of heads.
But the tale of misfortune lied with P B Lawrence Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Sierra Sue (Darci Brahma) ($6), who when travelling strongly had the door slammed shut on several occasions in the straight, and could only canter over the line in seventh.
Five-year-old Superstorm had not been seen since the spring last year prior to his fourth-placed finish behind Sierra Sue in the P B Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield on August 14, in a campaign in which he ran third in the Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m), having finished second in the All-Star Mile (1600m) last autumn.
“We were confident the horse would run well but it always looked like it would be complicated and needed a D. Oliver special,” O’Brien continued.
“It was always going to be a difficult map for him. He hasn’t got much gate speed, albeit he took a more prominent position today, but you definitely would have preferred to be three-wide peeling and getting momentum, particularly on a horse like Superstorm who builds so much through his finish.
“They had nowhere to go and as they straightened he’s gone back to the fence, which hasn’t been the place all day and he’s still been able to lift him and get him over the line.
“I don’t think there was much in his favour today and he’s still got there. He’s second-up still from nearly a year off, so the win was full of merit. He’s a horse that has always raced at the top level and he hadn’t won for a while, so it is great to get back winning with him.”
Elephant, who was brought across the Tasman by trainers David and Emma-Lee Browne to target the Cox Plate, looks set to now miss out on a start by the narrowest of margins, with the Toorak Handicap emerging as the likely new course.
Bred by Peters out of his Group 3-winning mare Stormy Nova (Metal Storm), Superstorm is the seventh foal and one of four stakes winners from the mare, whose sister Mikimota was successful at Listed level, and half-siblings Cosmic Storm (Street Sense) and Royal Command (Street Sense) also winners at black-type level, with the former winning the La Trice Classic (Gr 3, 1800m) and Belmont Oaks (Listed, 2000m).
Stormy Nova was sold to Belmont Bloodstock through the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $45,000 in 2017, and has an unraced three-year-old gelding by Street Boss (Street Cry), as well as a yearling colt by Sessions (Lonhro), while she was again placed in foal to the stallion when covered in February this year.