WELL-BRED ZARKAVA A FILLY GOING PLACES
Article taken from the Racing Post
By Tony Morris
THERE have been strong hints in the last few days that fillies
trained in France will have plenty to say about the outcome of next
year's spring Classics.
On Friday Natagora led her rivals a merry dance in the Cheveley
Park Stakes, making virtually all and winning with something in
hand, and although her stamina for the Rowley Mile cannot be
guaranteed, the performance was one which will ensure her a
considerable following if she makes a return visit to
Newmarket.
There are no concerns over the Guineas distance in the case of
Zarkava, supplemented into Sunday's Prix Marcel Boussac after a
maiden win on her debut last month, and there is no doubting her
class after her comprehensive defeat of more experienced opponents
in Longchamp's top test for juvenile fillies.
When shut away on the rail in the straight, it appeared that
Zarkava would need to sprout wings to even take a hand in the
finish, but once extricated from the trap, she produced an amazing
burst of acceleration to overwhelm the previously unbeaten
Conference Call and win with total authority.
Clearly well suited by a mile at present, Zarkava is likely to stay
further as a three-year-old, when the Prix de Diane would appear to
represent a natural target, and she might even stay well enough to
make her presence felt in an (lm4f) Oaks or a Prix Vermeille.
Zarkava is the third daughter of ZAMINDAR to
have scored in Group 1 company this year, after Coquerelle, who won
the Prix Saint-Alary (lm2f), and Darjina, who followed up her
successes in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix d'Astarte
against her own sex with a triumph over colts — notably Ramonti —
in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. Darjina has been campaigned
throughout at a mile, but there is rather more stamina on the
distaff side of Zarkava's pedigree, giving her licence to tackle
longer trips.
ZAMINDAR himself did not win beyond 6f in a career
that turned out disappointingly, albeit to some extent because
initially he was hyped as the presumed equal of his big brother,
Zafonic. Withdrawn from his intended debut after incurring an
injury in the stalls, he recorded a smooth victory at
Maisons-Laffitte and followed up in the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg,
and the notion that he might emulate Zafonic seemed perfectly
plausible.
It did not happen, and he was destined not to win again. He started
at odds-on for both the Prix Morny and Prix de la Salamandre —
races that his brother had won with ease — but at Deauville he
failed by a neck against Bahamian Bounty, and at Longchamp he
refused to accept restraint and wound up an exhausted third behind
Revoque and The West.
He would probably have finished closer than fifth in Entrepreneur's
2,000 Guineas under a more judicious ride. After his training
schedule had been interrupted by "a minor skin infection", he
returned with a below-par effort when runner-up in the Group 3 Prix
de Ris-Orangis, and signed off with a dull performance in the Prix
Jacques le Marois.
ZAMINDAR clearly was not a second Zafonic, and when he
went to stud in 1998 his fee was set at £7,000, compared with the
£30,000 asked for his sibling, who already had a champion
two-year-old in Xaar among his first-crop runners.
ZAMINDAR's initial book of 73 was not bad, but there
was inevitably far more class among the 116 who visited Zafonic in
the same season. Few would have wagered that Zamindar would be the
only one of the pair to get a Group 1 winner from that year's
coverings.
The filly who opened eyes to ZAMINDAR's
potential as a sire was Zenda, the Juddmonte-bred daughter of
Dancing Brave mare Hope, who won the 2002 Poule d'Essai des
Pouliches. But how was that to enhance the prospects of ZAMINDAR,
who had been out of action for most of the 2000 breeding season and
who. had spent two years on lease in Florida, where he had covered
undistinguished mares at a fee of $5,000?
Fate took a hand again when Zafonic died as a result of a paddock
accident within weeks of his arrival for a shuttle season in
Australia. ZAMINDAR returned to take his place at Banstead Manor,
and with Zenda's recent Classic as evidence that he could get
quality stock, he found himself busily employed with 101 mares for
the 2003 season. Coquerelle and Darjina figured among the happy
results.
But there was bound to be a hiatus while ZAMINDAR had
little representation on European courses. He covered only 33 mares
in 2005 and 47 in 2006, while Zarkava comes from a crop of 49
conceived in 2004. If his record seems uneven, that merely reflects
the level of opportunity he has been afforded.
ZARKAVA is the first runner for her dam, Zarkasha, who went into
training with John Oxx, but never reached the racecourse. As a
daughter of dual Derby winner Kahyasi, the mare might reasonably
have been expected to display more stamina than her half-sister,
Zarkiya (by Catrail), who won a Group 3 over a mile and was fourth
in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.
Encouragement for the idea that Zarkava might be suited by longer
distances comes from the fact that the family has already delivered
a top-class performer by Kahyasi over lm2f and beyond. Zainta,
successful in the 1998 Prix Saint-Alary and Prix de Diane, and
third in the Prix Vermeille, was by Kahyasi out of Zaila, a
half-sister to Zarna, the granddam of Zarkasha.
The third dam of Zainta and fifth dam of Zarkava was the brilliant
Petite Etoile, still widely regarded as the best winner of the
1,000 Guineas and Oaks since the war. Petite Etoile, still in
training when the present Aga Khan inherited his father's
bloodstock in 1960, and a direct descendant of his grandfather's
great foundation mare Mumtaz Mahal, had a desperately unlucky time
at stud.
From 13 breeding seasons, the great grey produced only two
surviving cobs, only one of whom — Afaridaan — was a winner, and a
solitary live daughter in Zahra (by Habitat).
Zahra turned out to be a poor athlete, but her place in the
paddocks was always assured, and there was much rejoicing when her
granddaughter, Zainta, became the first direct descendant of Petite
Etoile to win at the top level. The family is now well represented
in the Aga Khan's studs, and Zarkava is unlikely to be the
last.
Date:
09 October 2007