20 Sep 2008
David Hayes-trained
Zagreb (Zabeel x Dansino) posted the second stakes win of his promising racing career and earned a tilt at the Caulfield Cup into the bargain when taking out the Listed $A100,500 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday with a breath-taking last-to-first performance.
"We firmly believe he (Zagreb) is a Group One horse and he has a Listed horse's weight in the Cup so we are pretty happy," the dual Caulfield Cup winning trainer said.
The four-year-old has just 50.5kg for the A$3 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 18.
Hayes said Zagreb's tardiness from the barriers was a concern but he remains hopeful that he will be right for the Caulfield Cup.
"The further he goes the better he will get," Hayes said.
"He was a little bit tardy away again today but Craig (Williams) took his time and with the good tempo he went against the race day trend and finished off well."
Hayes won his first Caulfield Cup with Fraar in 1993 and won the race again with Tawqeet in 2006.
Zagreb will have his next start in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 4.
Zagreb posted his first stakes win at the Adelaide carnival in March in the Listed Chairman's Stakes. He has won three of his nine starts to date.
Zagret's sire, Zabeel, stands at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand. Zabeel's previous Caulfield Cup winners have been Might And Power (1997), Sky Heights (1999) and Railings (2005).