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Just the sight of Zaaki, a four-time group 1 winning nine-year-old, at the racetrack can make even the most hard-nosed punters go weak at the knees.<\/p>\n
Carl Holt, who made his fortune trading on London\u2019s financial markets before making his home in Australia, almost goes to water when he talks about the gelding, which for three years has raced in his blue and red colours in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just a magnificent looking animal,\u201d Holt, the horse\u2019s Sydney-based managing owner, says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he comes into the mounting yarn, he crests his neck, he gets on his toes, and he looks like a bloody rock star.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holt\u2019s adoration for the horse is not alone. Zaaki\u2019s ownership group – a large and diverse cohort featuring several major figures in racing including Victoria Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson, treasurer Glenn Carmody, Moonee Valley Racing Club committee member David Sinn and Racing Victoria board member Paul Guerra – are all besmitten too.<\/p>\n
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Popular racehorse\u00a0Zaaki is featured alongside one of its owners Neil Wilson.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>The Age<\/cite><\/p>\n But it\u2019s what the English-bred champion has done on the track, with more than $10 million in prizemoney, which has earned him the love of so many punters over the past few years. And on Saturday, at Flemington, he\u2019s looking for his piece of history.<\/p>\n The Annabel Neasham-trained Zaaki is after a third straight victory in the Champions Stakes, known for a generation as the Mackinnon Stakes, having taken out the 2000 m group 1 feature at Flemington in both 2021 and 2022. He will be ridden again by Jamie Kah, who steered him home in last year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n The weight-for-age event which is now on the final day of the Flemington carnival has as rich a history as any race in Australia. Its honour roll is a who\u2019s who of equine icons from Carbine, Phar Lap, Peter Pan, Comic Court, Let\u2019s Elope, Lonhro to So You Think.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a horse who over the years has really worn his heart on his sleeve, as strange as that can sound,\u201d Holt says. \u201cYou know with Zaaki that he just jumps, goes to the front, gives his all and says \u2018try catch me\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people love that in a racehorse because, you know, you\u2019re not sitting there thinking \u2032is he going to get a run? Is he going to get blocked? Will the speed be on enough to make ground?<\/p>\n \u201cHe always tries his best. He\u2019s always competitive … win or lose.\u201d<\/p>\n Connections of Zaaki have endured a roller-coaster ride over the years since he left the legendary English trainer stables of Sir Michael Stoute and relocated to Australia under Neasham. None more so when as favourite for the 2021 Cox Plate he was scratch on the morning of the race with an elevated temperature. He was similarly a late withdrawal on vet\u2019s advice from the group 1 King Charles III Stakes at Randwick last month.<\/p>\n Having finished sixth in the Cox Plate at a fortnight ago – 1.5 lengths off the winner Romantic Warrior \u2013 Neasham hopes Zaaki might be about to reach his peak are rising among connections. The trainer said on Friday she was confident he was \u201cgoing as well as he can be\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always hard to be confident in a group one,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m confident that he will run well and I certainly if he can win a third one in a row, I certainly won\u2019t be surprised, put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson – who is hoping to cap a successful carnival with some personal success – said getting to know the majority of the 15 owners \u2013 of which he\u2019d known only a handful before buying the horse \u2013 had brought him as much joy as Zaaki\u2019s wins.<\/p>\n Picture perfect: Zaaki during Breakfast With The Best at Moonee Valley.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n Most are active in an owners WhatsApp group, which springs to life during one of Zaaki\u2019s campaigns, with regular eyewitness accounts from morning track work, critiques of Neasham\u2019s media appearances and sightings in the stables.<\/p>\n \u201cJust every day it\u2019s someone saying they saw a bit of track work or heard from Annabelle Neasham that, you know, he\u2019s looking good. Or there\u2019s a photo of him and comment like: \u2018what about that picture? I think his ribs are showing, he\u2019s almost down to a fourth rib\u2019,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n He says being part of the ownership group had reminded him of the egalitarian experience racing ownership in Australia \u2013 where, no matter what walk of life you come from \u201cyou\u2019re all equal and can enjoy the ride\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI have met people I never thought I would through this group, and it\u2019s just been one of the great joys in my racing life. I probably knew two or three beforehand and now, of the 15 owners in the horse, I probably know 10 really well now. He really has brought me great joy.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a nice symmetry too with Wilson\u2019s horse having made the Mackinnon his own, having been named after Wilson\u2019s former predecessors as VRC chairman. Lauchlan Mackinnon, who ran the club from 1916 until his death in 1935, is known to a generation of racing fans purely through his portrayal by Vincent Ball in the 1983 film Phar Lap<\/em>, as an establishment elite who was out destroy the champion horse.<\/p>\n For obviously reasons Wilson has tried not to talk too much about Zaaki publicly, but, after his first Mackinnon win, he was chuffed when his name was drawn out of the hat to determine which of the owner got to keep the original trophy. It sits proudly in his office.<\/p>\n Holt thinks if Zaaki wins the race for a third time he will have well and truly earned his reputation as a great and deserves to have a race named after him. Wilson, tongue-in-cheek, says he can\u2019t approve it but he\u2019d fancy a statue at Flemington.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had some relationships with good horses over 30 years but nothing ever like this. He just goes out every time and gives his best.\u201d<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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