3 minute read

Zaaki has been Annabel Neasham’s stable star but she hopes to unearth a few more among her current crop of yearlings.

Annabel Neasham has set the bar high for herself after a heady breakout season, but she wouldn't want it any other way. 

In her first full year as a trainer, Ciaron Maher's former Sydney lieutenant has made an immediate impact, winning Group One races with rising star Zaaki and exciting three-year-old Mo'Unga. 

"It has been a hell of a journey," Neasham said. 

"I didn't expect to have two Group One wins with two different horses in my first year. Some trainers are never fortunate enough to have a horse to win one, so to have two is very special." 

Zaaki has enjoyed three weeks in the paddock since his Brisbane winter carnival heroics and will return to Neasham's Warwick Farm stables on Monday, while Mo'unga is back in work and preparing to trial at the end of the month. 

Neasham's recent attention has been on her crop of rising two-year-olds and while she is dreaming of a Cox Plate triumph with Zaaki, she is also looking to the next generation of horses to continue to build on the stable's strong foundations. 

"I've got a lot of well-bred, precocious yearlings so a real aim would be getting something into a Golden Slipper. We managed to get one runner in it this year, but I'd love to keep the ball rolling there," Neasham said. 

"And to have numerous two-year-old winners is probably a real aim. Seeing as most of them have come through (the stables) and some of them are on their third prep already and there are some quite precocious ones there, that will be a real focus." 

Neasham has had just a handful of runners during July and her sole entry for Saturday's Randwick card is import Blue Soldier, a stakeswinner as a two-year-old in Europe. 

However, having struggled to handle rain-affected tracks in his five Australian barrier trials, he is likely to be saved for another day unless Randwick can improve from its heavy 9 rating. 

"We will just monitor the ground. If it's still a heavy, which it looks like it might be, he probably won't go around," Neasham said. 

"His form in the UK suggests he's better on top of the ground but we won't decide that until the morning of (the race)."