New Zealand-bred five-year-old Zebrowski (NZ) (Savabeel) ran out a gutsy winner of the Gr.3 Centenary Vase (1800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday to make it back-to-back Group Three victories for the Caspar Fownes trained gelding.
The son of Savabeel looked to be in trouble mid-stretch but rallied under a determined Matthew Poon Ming-fai ride.
Runner up in the 2020 Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) behind Quick Thinker (So You Think) when prepared by Team Hawkes, Zebrowski has now won three of his eight races since being sold to Hong Kong and has raced consistently in the upper grades.
Fownes is contemplating a Gr.1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) tilt with Zebrowski next month after the five-year-old toughed it out to claim the victory.
“He’s stepping up to every task and sometimes you have to throw them in the deep end a little bit, out of their comfort zone rating-wise,” Fownes said.
“If he ran in a Gold Cup he certainly wouldn’t be disgraced – he’d still be a first-four chance in my opinion because he’s such a good stayer. Most importantly, we will see how he pulls up because he’s a ‘jointy’ horse, he has his issues.”
Zebrowski has made a swift acclimatisation to Hong Kong; he’s now a two-time Group Three winner from only eight starts in town after claiming the Gr.3 January Cup Handicap (1800m) at Happy Valley earlier this month.
“Conghua certainly helps in preparation for his races so he’ll be going back there next week and then obviously if I’m happy with how he is, we’ll bring him back for the Gold Cup,” Fownes said.
Breaking cleanly from gate three under jockey Poon in the HK$3.7 million feature, Zebrowski settled third in the run before courageously denying Butterfield (Setembro Chove) and Savvy Nine (Anodin) in a nail biting finish.
“He’s a tough bugger and it was a tough win. He’s improved – he keeps getting better. You can imagine him when he gets over further, he’ll be so much better because he’ll just keep on running – it’s exciting,” Fownes said.
“I said ‘look, it’s most important to jump well, you’ve got no weight’. The two leaders were going to be Ka Ying Star and Reliable Team, as it turned out, and I said ‘make sure you have him up there, he’s tough and he just keeps fighting’.
“I’m happy for the kid, you give him the opportunity and he’s got the job done.”
Bred by Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge, Zebrowski is a sibling to Group winners Leebaz, Polish Knight and Euro Angel, dam of this season’s stakes-winner Mr Mozart being from star producer Polish Princess, a stakes-winning daughter of Polish Precedent.
He was initially purchased privately as a foal by bloodstock agent Andrew Williams on behalf of clients of Team Hawkes and was traded to Hong Kong after a spring campaign at four.
