The beauty of the ever-increasing prizemoney in Australian racing has Benaud and Zoumon looking for winter riches in the McKell Cup at Rosehill on Saturday.
The pair finished second and fourth in last year’s Australia Derby won by dual Derby winner Hitotsu, which will start stud duties at Arrowfield Stud this year. Being geldings, the future is on the track for Zoumon and Benaud, and they will chase prizemoney in the Caloundra Cup and Grafton Cup in the next month.
Zoumon gets back to his favourite trip in the McKell Cup at Rosehill on Saturday.Credit: Getty
“It’s a natural path for these horses that are performing well at this time of year,” Zoumon’s co-trainer Adrian Bott said. “It’s a key race for him on Saturday if he can stack up in this grade, then we could look at some staying races up north.
“He’s pretty versatile and I thought he was excellent first up. Now he has to step up to listed company down in the weights, and he will run well.”
Benaud’s trainer, John O’Shea, believes it is an opportune time for his four-year-old to get back into winning form after struggling in the autumn. Benaud is a derby runner-up but has only won once in 17 starts.
“There was a little problem we found that affected him in the autumn, and we looked at these races with the money being very good and thought it was better to have him in the stable,” O’Shea said. “You are racing against a class of horse that is a little bit lower than in the spring.
“When he is right he is a very good stayer, and we are very happy with him at the moment.”
The Derby horses will take on three runners from the Chris Waller and Annabel Neasham yards in the McKell Cup that are on similar paths. Benaud is a $15 chance, while Zoumon has been confidently backed into the $3.80 favourite ahead of Lord Mayor’s Cup winner Bois D’Argent.
The Zoustar four-year-old with the front-running style has won three of his four runs at 2000m and will be better for his return when he just failed to run down Mach Schnell over 1800m at Rosehill a fortnight ago.
Zoumon put back-to-back wins together when he got to 2000m in the summer, and Bott thinks he is getting stronger as he matures.
“He ran a good race in the Derby and stuck on pretty well, so I would like to stretch him out to 2400m again. His best form is no doubt around 2000, but you look on his dam side and there is a strong staying influence,” Bott said.
“He was good in the summer when we targeted the Magic Millions, where he ran well, and this is the right time for him to be back.
“He is that bit better and stronger and has the benefit of that first-up run heading to Saturday.”
The other Tulloch Lodge runner on the weekend is King Of Clubs. The imported stayer is starting a third Australian preparation and has so far netted just one second from four starts.
“He has always run well first up and then his form just tapered off a bit,” Bott said. “He had a good spell and he has trialled much better this time, and he’s looked a bit sharper.
“He seems to have acclimatised, and physically I think he’s a lot better and stronger, so he might be able to sustain a longer preparation this time.
“He won his last trial and we expect him to run well.”
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