In-depth Analysis

by Andrew Caulfield

SIRE LINE

Although Gone West is still active enough to have covered 47 mares at the age of 23 in 2007, this sire of nearly 90 stakes winners is now most esteemed as an excellent sire of sires. Three of his sons – Mr Greeley, Elusive Quality and Zamindar - were in particularly good form in 2007, with Mr Greeley being responsible for the dual G1 winners Finsceal Beo and Saoirse Abu, while Elusive Quality’s team included the American G1 winner Maryfield and the impressive English two-year-old Raven’s Pass. It was Zamindar, though, who was in the best form and his total of three G1 winners in 2007 was bettered only by Danehill and Monsun. The others with three G1 winners were Distorted Humor, Sadler’s Wells, Smart Strike and Street Cry, which highlights the tremendous value for money that Zamindar represents. Incidentally, none of these three sons of Gone West won at G2 or G1 levels, but all three came from outstanding female lines and their pedigrees have arguably proved more important than their racecourse performances.

Gone West’s sons have also demonstrated their prowess on other continents. Western Winter has become champion sire in South Africa and the brothers Zafonic and Zamindar have been flying the flag for Gone West in Europe. Zafonic’s last crop of two-year-olds raced in 2005. They did him proud, earning him third place on the juvenile sires’ table, and they helped him achieve a top 12 finish on the general sires’ list.

FEMALE LINE

It can have surprised no-one familiar with Zamindar’s female line that he was able to show exceptional speed as a two-year-old. The family was introduced to the Juddmonte Farms stud book with the purchase of Mofida, a mare who raced no fewer than 15 times as a two-year-old in 1976. Mofida won five of her juvenile races, including the Firth of Clyde Stakes, and in doing so fulfilled the potential of her bloodlines. Her sire, Right Tack, won his last five starts as a two-year-old, including the Middle Park Stakes, before going on to complete the 2,000 Guineas double in England and Ireland. Mofida’s dam, Wold Lass, had the distinction of being a half-sister to Reet Lass, winner of the Molecomb Stakes, Lowther Stakes and three other races during an undefeated juvenile campaign, and to Chebs Lad, who numbered the Champagne Stakes among his five juvenile wins.

Mofida finally retired as a winner of eight of her 41 starts, achieving annual Timeform ratings of 111, 115 and 108. Five of her daughters have produced stakes winners, the best of them being Modena and Zaizafon. A daughter of Roberto, Modena produced a magnificent total of seven stakes winners, headed by the Oaks heroine Reams of Verse and the Eclipse winner Elmaamul.

Zaizafon’s contribution to the family fortunes was to produce Zamindar and Zafonic, plus another five black-type performers. Her daughter Bold Empress herself is now the Grandam of two Group winners.

Although Zaizafon’s sire, The Minstrel, stayed well enough to win the Derby, Irish Derby and the King George, Zaizafon won the G3 Seaton Delaval Stakes over seven furlongs at two. A mile was her best distance at three, when her third to Shadeed in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes earned her a Timeform rating of 119.

There are now seven stakes-winning descendants of Zaizafon in the Juddmonte broodmare team, plus several other black-type winners, so this is a family with a future, as well as a past.

PERFORMANCE

Zamindar possessed one of the traits most valued by many commercial breeders - he matured very quickly. Although an accident in the stalls prevented him making his first appearance in June, he was able to make an impressive debut over 5½ furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte on July 1, when he romped home five lengths clear in a newcomers’ event. That proved to be the last time that Zamindar contested anything but a Group race.

Zamindar’s Group debut came in the Prix de Cabourg over six furlongs at Deauville on August 1, and he was just as impressive as he had been in lesser company. In front from the start, he led throughout to win easily by 2½ lengths from Dyhim Diamond, a very fast colt who went on to become a dual Group winner. So favourable was the impression that Zamindar created with these authoritative wins that he next started at odds of 3/10 in the G1 Prix Morny. Unfortunately he was caught close home and beaten a short neck by Bahamian Bounty, a colt who later recorded another G1 success in the Middle Park Stakes. There were some, though, who thought that Zamindar’s defeat owed a lot to the way he was ridden. Timing expert Michael Tanner, writing in Pacemaker, commented:

“It is difficult to see how much more use could have been made of Zamindar in the Prix Morny at Deauville, unless it was right from the gate. “After Bahamian Bounty had registered a typically French-style 14.2 [seconds] furlong, the odds-on favourite Zamindar proceeded to reel off untypically Gallic figures of 11.0, 11.4, 11.0 and 11.9. “That mid-race half-mile of 45.3, for example, compares to 47.2 in the Maurice de Gheest. Zamindar was ready to be taken after that stint of front-running.”

Tanner thought that Zamindar’s rider again expected too much when Zamindar started at odds on to emulate Zafonic’s victory in the G1 Prix de la Salamandre. “Zamindar’s raw speed was again evident in the Salamandre,” he wrote in Pacemaker. “He rattled up mindboggling early fractions: 12.1 out of the gate preceding quarters of 21.8 and 21.2. Elder brother Zafonic, for example, only clocked 12.7, 24.9 and 23.6 on faster ground back in 1992. However, whereas Zafonic prevailed with a 22.1 [final] quarter, Zamindar was a spent force when Revoque appeared to come flying past.”

It is worth stressing that Zamindar covered the first 1,000 metres in :55.1 seconds and maintained his gallop to cross the 1,200-metre mark in 1:08.3 - another very fast time for a two-year-old.

Zamindar was not seen out again until the Two Thousand Guineas, in which Thierry Jarnet faced the unenviable job of trying to conserve the colt’s energy for an uphill finish over a mile. Again, the critics thought the tactics were somewhat overdone.

The Sporting Life form book records that Zamindar was held up in last place before staying on well from over two furlongs out. He ran on strongly inside the final furlong and was nearest at the finish.

“That he got as close as he did is testament to his speed,” wrote one analyst after Zamindar had finished a 3-length fifth to Entrepreneur. “He showed as good a burst as any Guineas winner when getting clear, but he didn’t get daylight in the last 100 yards and was not driven out. He must have taken all the beating if Jarnet had tracked the winner.”

A minor skin infection then interrupted Zamindar’s career and he was not seen out again until the summer Deauville meeting, when he was a ¾-length second in the Prix de Ris-Orangis. Zamindar is best remembered, though, for the blazing speed that characterised his two-year-old performances and the chances are that misfortune prevented him revealing the full extent of his ability on the racetrack. However, it is going to be a different story at stud, judging by his early results.

STALLION CAREER

True to its promise, Juddmonte Farms lent Zamindar strong support after his retirement to Banstead Manor Stud and Zamindar thoroughly justified this support by providing Juddmonte with the top-class filly Zenda, winner of the Gr.1 French 1,000 Guineas and a close second in the Gr.1 Coronation Stakes. Other Juddmonte-bred stakes horses were Jubilation, winner of the Listed Prix de Pontarme on his second start and later to become a Gr.3 winner; Victorian Order, winner of the Listed Prix Pelleas; Minds Locked, winner of his first two starts prior to finishing a creditable fourth in the Gr.1 Prix Jean Prat; and Extinguisher, who failed by only two heads to win the Listed Prix Roland de Chambure.

Zamindar’s early crops also did well for other breeders. His daughter Pertuisane (who, like Zenda, Jubilation, Victorian Order and Minds Locked, is inbred to Northern Dancer) was a strong-finishing third after meeting trouble in running in the G1 Garden City Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Belmont Park. Other good winners by Zamindar include Zargus, winner of the Balmoral Handicap over 5 furlongs at Royal Ascot, and Lipstick, a Listed winner who was unlucky not to collect the £129,000 first prize in the Watership Down Stud Sales race.

Unfortunately a health issue meant that Zamindar missed most of the 2000 season, in his third year at Banstead Manor, and he spent 2001 and 2002 in Florida.

Zamindar then returned to Banstead Manor to replace Zafonic, who had died in an accident in the summer of 2002. Zamindar’s return was also prompted by the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches victory of his first-crop daughter Zenda.

In his first year back in Britain, Zamindar was to sire two more G1 winners and one of them, Darjina, provided him with his second success in the Pouliches. Darjina confirmed her standing as one of 2007’s best milers by taking two more G1 events, the Prix d’Astarte and Prix du Moulin. Coquerelle, this crop’s other G1 winner, took the Prix Saint-Alary and confirmed her ability by finishing third in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.

There are only 51 foals in Zamindar’s 2005 crop but the Aga Khan has already reaped rich rewards for his continued support of the Banstead Manor stallion. Mated to Kahyasi’s unraced daughter Zarkasha, Zamindar has a potential star on his hands in the imposing form of their daughter Zarkava, who quickened dramatically to land the Prix Marcel Boussac.

Zarkava and Darjina are out of mares with similar pedigrees. Both mares – Zarkasha and Darinska – are by Northern Dancer line stallions and both are out of daughters of the Aga’s 2,000 Guineas winner Doyoun, himself a son of Mill Reef. Cinnamon Bay, another of Zamindar’s 2007 stakes winners, is also out of a mare bred on the Northern Dancer/Mill Reef cross and so is Zenda, who originated this cross.

In comparing Zafonic and Zamindar, it is interesting that Zamindar now has four G1 winners among the 314 foals in his first seven crops (two of which were sired at fees of only $5,000 in Florida, the others at fees between £7,000 and £12,500 in England). Zafonic, on the other hand, sired four G1 winners among the 633 named foals in his nine crops – all sired at fees between £20,000 and £30,000. This statistic suggests strongly that Zamindar has the potential to be a better sire than his older brother, even though Zafonic had the better form. This also supports the view that Zamindar (always held in very high regard by André Fabre) never revealed the full extent of his talent on the racecourse, largely because of a reluctance to settle as a juvenile.