New Zealand-bred five-year-old Zebrowski (NZ) (Savabeel) ran out a strong winner of the Gr.3 January Cup (1800m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night for trainer Caspar Fownes.
The son of Savabeel relished the strong tempo to come from mid field under Joao Moreira to score in the city circuit’s only Group race of the season.
Runner up in the 2020 Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) behind Quick Thinker when prepared by Team Hawkes, Zebrowski has now won two of his seven races since being sold to Hong Kong and has raced consistently in the upper grades.
Fownes is confident Zebrowski will flourish even further over longer trips and has earmarked the Gr. 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap (2400m) at Sha Tin on 1 May as a long-range target.
“He’s a horse that’s definitely on the improve and I think his best races are going to come towards the end of the season as he gets to a real staying trip,” Fownes said.
“From day one I said to the owner that I think he’s a real Queen Mother horse. We’ll just see how he pulls up and try to find something around the 2000m back at Sha Tin.
“From day one he hasn’t run a bad race and he probably should have at least another win under his name, he’s raced really well.”
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.
Zebrowski is the 124th stakes-winner for Waikato stud’s champion sire Savabeel.
