Zoustar’s good looking son Zousain has found a winning vein in recent weeks and posted his fifth winner at Doomben on Wednesday with an impressive first starter that has aspirations for the Queensland Winter Carnival.
Trained by Lawrie Mayfield-Smith, talented colt Zouna bolted away for an easy barrier trial win last October at Eagle Farm, but connections opted for a patient approach and he lined up today in the 1110m juvenile maiden for his debut.
A recent jump out win saw him start a short priced favourite and Zouna lived up to the hype, kicking clear for a dominant two and a half length win.
Ever
yone saw the jump out the other day, so to see him win like that was no surprise,” said Lawrie Mayfield-Smith.
“He’s a colt, but he’s like a puppy dog, he just likes to snuggle into you, a lovely horse.
“We’ll give him one more run and tip him out for a short break and some time on the water walker, then come back for the winter carnival. I think he’ll run a mile.”
Both his sire Zousain and his grand-sire Zoustar ran as juveniles during the Brisbane Winter Carnival and both finished second in the Group I BRC JJ Atkins (1600m), so it’s not hard to see why Zouna may also be aimed in that direction.
Recorded as a $120,000 Magic Millions Book 2 purchase from Kenmore Lodge for High Calibre Racing/Clarke Bloodstock, Zouna had an issue with his scope and is now raced by his breeders John and Karen McKeon. He is the first winner for unraced Camelot mare Campagna, whose dam is a sister to stakes-winner Digitalism tracing back through an international female family to influential matriarch Thong, whose descendants include breed shaping sires Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev.
Campagna produced another colt by Zousain last spring.
Zouna is the fifth first crop winner – one in NZ - for Zousain, who maintained popularity with broodmare owners last spring covering 189 mares at Widden Stud at a fee of $22,000.