The racing Gods aren’t renowned for their compassion. So rarely does one smile on a more deserving victor than the connections of Saturday’s Eagle Farm winner, OCEAN ZAR.
A model of consistency, the ZOUSTAR 4yo has only been further back than 4th twice in her 11 start career thus far. She didn’t run a mile earlier this preparation and was then poleaxed in an awful scrimmage three starts ago that saw her pulled out of the race.
A most unlucky 2nd from a wide alley followed, leaving her despairing owners wondering if there was a God before Saturday’s triumph over the same course and 1400m distance. Rider Nikita Beriman was full of praise for the mare.
“She was the class horse of the field and won accordingly. Obviously she’s been knocking on the door and very unlucky with bad barriers but today she was able to jump and travel beautifully, overcoming a bump on the home turn to win,” Beriman said.
🌊 Ocean Zar puts a win on the board at Eagle Farm!@BrisRacingClub @ODeaHoysted pic.twitter.com/WdrfNC7PI4
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 20, 2024
A mere $20,000 yearling, OCEAN ZAR was officially the least expensive lot at the Inglis Easter Sale of 2021, but her lack of popularity in the sale ring hasn’t stopped her on the racetrack. In her relatively short career to date, she has already quintupled her price tag in prizemoney and is a Saturday metropolitan winner.
The mare will now enjoy some down time in the paddock before returning in the spring to target more Saturday prizemoney.
“Very satisfying”, was how co-trainer Matt Hoysted described her overdue trip to the winner’s circle.
“She’s had quite a few runs prep and with the carnival coming on we’ll give her a break now rather than completely bottoming her out. There’s no reason she won’t come back and go through her grades.”
With more than a hundred Proven owners gathering at Kolora Lodge yesterday for the annual Proven/O’Dea Hoysted Open Day, the timing of the win was perfect and added to some of the festive cheer as our 2024 QLD yearlings were paraded.
OCEAN ZAR becomes our 36th winner for the season and 16th for the calendar year.
Meanwhile at a rain-sodden Randwick, PRIVATE EYE finished an incredibly brave 3rd in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) shortly before the remainder of the meeting was abandoned due to the heavy conditions. Whilst it hasn’t been an ideal preparation for our star sprinter, in four starts he has added another two Group 1 placings to CV which has elevated his career prizemoney to $10,563,685.
At this stage, the aim is to set PRIVATE EYE for the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m) in a month’s time but trainer Joe Pride will monitor the gelding’s recovery from Saturday’s run before making a decision in the next few days.
