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Australian Guineas likely goal for Bennett Racing’s rapidly improving Zoustar filly
If Zou Dancer (Zoustar) makes it to Group 1 level, and she could sooner rather than later, Victorian breaker Brad Pearson and Geelong-based Irish track rider Niall Phillips can take plenty of the credit for helping turn the obviously talented but troublesome filly into an elite racehorse.
Syndicator Nathan Bennett, who was yesterday still savouring the three-year-old's victory in The Vanity (Gr 3, 1400m) at Flemington, made special mention of the unheralded duo whose hands-on roles with the Leon and Troy Corstens-trained three-year-old had seen her progress from a Dunkeld maiden last November to Saturday's breakthrough stakes success.
That came after one unplaced start as a two-year-old at Bendigo last April when trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy.
"She just wasn't going into the barriers, which seemed a bit odd, so a change is as good as anything for a horse so we decided Leon and Troy would be the fit for her," Bennett told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
"We sent her down to Brad Pearson, who did a bit of work with her and helped her relax and not be so scared of the barriers. Brad did a really good job with her and we actually took her to Moe for her first start of this prep and the barrier attendants went to put her in and she backed out a touch.
"It would be lucky to be ten seconds and the starter yelled out that she was scratched, so she went from Moe on a Monday, to the trials on the Wednesday at Geelong where she got her barrier certificate again, and then off to Dunkeld on the Saturday."
That maiden win followed two city runs, a fourth at Moonee Valley and a win at Flemington on December 19, which put her on a course towards The Vanity under the care of Leon Corstens at Malua Racing's Geelong stable.
"After her win at Flemington, we tipped her out for ten days between the 19th and the end of the year," Bennett continued.
"Niall Phillips, who rides her in trackwork, reckons the break just brought her on big time and he actually made the comment to Troy that she'd improved five lengths and he wasn't far wrong on Saturday.
"She won like a good thing, which is pretty exciting for all the owners."
Troy Corstens suggested the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) was a probable target for Zou Dancer immediately after The Vanity and Bennett reaffirmed those plans yesterday.
"We were originally thinking of the Kewney Stakes, but we didn't think she was going to come out and beat horses like Personal like she did," said Bennett.
"She has done it in pretty good fashion, so we are going to have a look at the Guineas. We will see how she works and what Niall thinks after sitting on her back and if he is happy with her and thinks she's improved, then it'll be full bore to the Guineas and then there's good races for her in Sydney – the Coolmore Classics and races like that.
"It'll be an interesting next seven days for her."
Another factor in Zou Dancer's dramatic rise through the ranks, according to Bennett, is her being trained out of Geelong, rather than the Corstens' Flemington stable.
"She is a filly you've just got to look after and make sure she is not in that environment where there's hundreds of horses everywhere and I think she just enjoys it down at Geelong where it's a little bit more low key for her," he said.
""If we need to take her down to the beach, we can do that, and keep her happy that way. She's a pretty intelligent filly, so you have got to keep on top of her the whole time."
Zou Dancer was a $150,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase in 2019 after capturing Bennett and his bloodstock advisor Phil Wells' attention at Newgate Farm during on-farm inspections in December 2018.
"She is a lovely moving filly and she looked like an athlete who had a lot of scope, so she was one of those fillies (we really liked)," Bennett recalled.
"Everyone hopes to go to the Magic Millions to buy a two-year-old, but we don't really go there for that.
"We're not a big two-year-old syndicator as such … as there's plenty of three- and four-year-old races and we identified her as a horse who might get over a mile.
"I think a few people thought we were silly early days when she was looking like a 1000-metre horse, but not anymore."
Premier sale next on agenda for Bennett Racing
Bennett's syndication business is a beneficiary of the extreme demand by existing and new owners wanting to race horses and he is preparing to reload his stocks at the upcoming Inglis Melbourne Premier and Magic Millions Adelaide yearling sales.
"I suppose we were lucky in a way that we had a bit of success leading up to the sales and we had a lot of our previous clients had expressed an interest in getting involved again," he revealed.
"Once I purchased these horses up at the Gold Coast, they were selling like hot cakes, so we have only got one horse with just 15 per cent left out of the six that we purchased.
"We spent roughly $850,000 and they have pretty much sold. If someone told me I would be able to do that, I would have probably said they were joking.
"I am really pleased with the way the sales are going. We can go to Melbourne Premier and Adelaide Magic Millions and launch again now."
A common theme at this year's Australian yearling sales has been agents and buyers being unable to secure as many yearlings as intended due to the intense competition and record prices but Bennett believes value still exists in the market.
"You have just got to do the work. We do it all ourselves, we don't use any agents or anything, but you have to stick to the plan," he said.
"It gets frustrating at times when you get knocked down a lot, but you have to just keep getting back up and focusing on the horses that are on your list. We found this year that the horses we purchased were all good value and they do slip through the cracks.
"if you're not on your game at the sales, you can certainly miss horses and that's why we're there and on our game."
Stradbroke possibility for The Astrologist
Bennett Racing also has another Zoustar (Northern Meteor) horse, The Astrologist, flying the flag for the syndication company and he could also be destined for Group 1 races later this year.
Nathan Bennett yesterday outlined a possible tilt at the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) during the Queensland Winter Carnival for the Leon and Troy Corstens-trained four-year-old who ran fifth in the Magic Millions Cup (RL, 1400m) at the Gold Coast on January 16.
"We decided to leave him up in Queensland at Kolora Lodge for a spell. In the next couple of weeks we are going to start him off with some dressage work just to strengthen him up a bit and get his mind on the job," he said.
"Sometimes he's a bit of a big dope and we're hoping that it will make him think about it a bit more and that it turns him into a proper horse on race day.
"I think he is right on the edge of being that sort of (Group) horse and if we can switch him on, it might be the turning point for him.
"We have left him up there and, at this stage, we will target him towards the Stradbroke."
Leon Corstens is expected to base himself in Queensland where the father-and-son training combination is set to also campaign fellow Bennett Racing-owned last-start Gold Coast maiden winner Defiant Diva (Dissident) and stablemate Morrissy (Snitzel).
Bennett said: "The Astrologist has certainly come a long way in his last prep and even his run on Magic Millions day when he ran fifth, he was three-wide, no cover the trip and he ran a super race. He is a horse to follow, for sure."
