A pair of New Zealand’s leading breeding operations would have been delighted with the finishes of their respective charges in the Roll The Dice Racing Plate (1200m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Sporting the black and gold checks of Brendan and Jo Lindsay, Zouzarella made an eye-catching debut when successful for Anthony and Sam Freedman to mark herself as a potential Gr.1 Caulfield One Thousand Guineas (1600m) candidate.
The Zoustar filly was backed heavily early in the week by punters but was almost unwanted late in betting when a drifter to $7 but she finished powerfully out wide to score from proven Godolphin filly Zapateo.
Wonderful Tonight, another New Zealand-owned filly who races for Windsor Park Stud and Ben Kwok, also caught the eye when closing for third after being held up at the top of the straight.
Both Zouzarella and Wonderful Tonight will be valuable commodities for the Kiwi breeding operations when they eventually retire.
A $250,000 yearling, Zouzarella is the second foal and second winner for the well-performed Al Maher mare Zazparella, a six-time winning sister to the stakes-placed Almachino and a half-sister to stakes-placed Lets Get Nauti Gal.
Meanwhile, Wonderful Tonight was secured for $450,000 and is by I Am Invincible out of the Group Two winning High Chaparral mare Forever Loved, a granddaughter of champion filly Tristalove.
Sam Freedman said Zouzarella was likely to go through the Listed Atlantic Jewel Stakes (1200m) back at Moonee Valley on September 4 before considering a path to the Guineas.
“She’s got to keep improving,” Freedman said.
“The fillies she’s going to come up against are going to get better and better but she’s made a really good start.
“She’s a very promising horse.”
Jockey Brett Prebble was suitably impressed with the feel the three-year-old filly gave him.
“She’s awesome,” he said.
“She came here, she was raw and inexperienced but she’s got a great action and a great temperament so she ticks a lot of boxes.”
