3 minute read
Valuable 3YO colt Zousain’s Brisbane carnival program is up in the air after he missed a vital start at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Zousain was scratched from Saturday’s Gold Coast Guineas due to health issues, the second time he has missed planned starts since he last raced at Flemington 58 days ago when he failed in the G1 Newmarket Handicap.
He has won two recent Sydney trials but trainer Chris Waller has returned him to his Rosehill stables from the Gold Coast with no certainty about his immediate future.
Waller said Zousain has low immunity that leads to the colt developing a cough and increases in his temperature.
“It’s never been bad enough to spell but just it sets him back,” Waller said. “I’m still clinging to hope he will race this winter.
“It would be great if he could get to the Kingsford Smith Cup and then the Stradbroke.”
It’s likely Waller will aim to give Zousain another trial, probably at Rosehill next Monday, to get him on track to a start in the $700,000 Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm on May 25.
Fierce Impact, the Japanese import who won the Summer Cup at Randwick in December for trainer Matthew Smith, trialled at Randwick on Monday to make up for missing a start in Saturday’s Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast where he was drawn as an emergency.
Fierce Impact finished third in today’s 1200m trial behind stablemate Grey Lion Grey Lion with Smith nominating the import for Friday’s $180,000 Scone Cup (1600m). Last start Randwick winer Grey Lion is likely to head to Brisbane for Saturday's G3 Chairman's Stakes at Doomben.