Zousain out to uphold his sireline’s tradition
STAR colt Zousain is out to emulate his sire and grandsire by winning the $1 million stallion-making Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.
Trainer Chris Waller is buoyed by the colt’s chances after a solid gallop with stablemate Lean Mean Machine early yesterday.
The Golden Rose runnerup is by Zoustar, who won the Coolmore in 2013 and was the first of Waller’s three successive winners of the race.
Zoustar’s sire Northern Meteor won the race in 2008.
Waller said at a Flemington breakfast yesterday that Zousain was “a real star” who was the spitting image of his father, who now stands at a service fee of $60,500 after becoming one of the leading young sires in the country.
Zoustar also sired two other leading contenders in this year’s race – colt Lean Mean Machine and filly Sunlight.
“It looks like a pretty good field and he’s a chance in an open race with a lot of form lines coming together,” Waller said of Zousain, the $3.50 Ladbrokes equal favourite with Written By.
The master trainer conceded the Coolmore Stud Stakes had surpassed the Victoria Derby in terms of being the most long-term lucrative race to win on the first day of the Flemington carnival.
“In terms of a stallion perspective, the winner of the Coolmore … is worth, I guess, $25 million-plus now,” he said.