6 May 2023Quality four-year-old Gunstock made a triumphant return from a second knee operation to emphasise his quality on the Hillside track at Sandown.
Our home-bred son of Tavistock made his first appearance since winning the G3 Coongy Handicap at Caulfield in the spring to romp to a first-up victory over 1700 metres.
Gunstock lobbed along in fifth spot before he peeled wide on the turn and when rider Mark Zahra asked him to lengthen stride he responded to mow down the leader.
“I was very happy through the race after getting into a nice spot,” he said.
“Coming to the turn I thought I was going to win, but he got a bit lost although he was too good the last bit.
“It’s my first time on him and he’s got good form over 2000 metres and he’ll improve a lot and wherever he goes next he’ll be hard to beat.”
Gunstock was first laid low by knee issues after he was a beaten favourite in the G1 VRC Derby and returned 11 months later to finish a resuming second at Flemington before he won the Coongy, after which he had further surgery to remove bone fragments.
He has now won four of his eight starts after also claiming the G3 Norman Robinson Stakes in his three-year-old season.
We sold Gunstock at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale to Ohukia Lodge for $80,000 and he then made $135,000 when purchased by Import Racing at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale.
He is a son of the Zabeel mare Zeranti, who is in foal to Sword of State, and she is also the dam of the multiple winner and Group performer The Irishman from the family of the G1 Robert Sangster Stakes winner Ruthless Dame and the multiple Group 1 winner Sea Siren.