Champagne Debut for Snitzel Colt

Zafar (Snitzel) already had a reputation leading into his raceday debut in Saturday’s $80,000 Listed Berkley Stud Champagne Stakes at Riccarton (1200m), and the classy Ready to Run Sale graduate lived up to the hype in impressive style.

Syndicators Fortuna teamed up with Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis to buy Zafar for $165,000 from the Kilgravin Lodge draft at the 2025 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka last November. The colt’s one-start, one-win career has now banked $46,000, with much more in store as a three-year-old next season.

Zafar turned heads with some smart performances at the trials as trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson prepared him for his first raceday start, and despite being thrown in at the deep end on Saturday against some proven black-type performers, he was sent out as a $1.80 favourite.

Jockey Opie Bosson gave Zafar plenty of time to find his feet and settled in midfield before moving out to the middle of the home straight to stake his claim. Zafar worked through his gears, hitting top speed in the last 200 metres and taking command. He pulled ahead through the closing stages to win by a length from the $90,000 Karaka 2025 Book 1 purchase Cool As Bling (NZ) (Hello Youmzain).

“He’s a lovely colt,” said assistant trainer Hunter Durrant, who oversees the Riccarton branch of the powerful Te Akau operation. “Credit to the North Island team, who sent him down here in terrific order.

“He’s got a great brain on him as well, which I think will take him a long way in the future.”

Fortuna principal John Galvin revealed that Zafar was not initially on the team’s Ready to Run Sale radar, but a late change of plans has reaped immediate rewards and could bring even more success next season.

“We buy to budget, so he wasn’t on our list originally,” Galvin said. “Mark Walker decided not to point him out to me, because he thought he’d make more than our budget.

“But it turned out that he was passed in with a $180,000 reserve. Mark was down here at Riccarton for the middle day of the New Zealand Cup Carnival, and he called me and said we should have a go. He suggested offering $165,000 and seeing if we could get him for that. Five minutes later, he called again and said the deal was done.

“It was a pretty exciting win today. There was a lot of talk about this horse coming into it, but he had to do a bit of work today to get up and win. I’m very happy with the result.

“I’ll leave future plans up to the training team, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his only run for the season. We’d love to come back here for the 2000 Guineas (Group One, 1600m) in November.”

Zafar’s performance also made a favourable impression on Bosson.

“He’s an exciting colt,” Bosson said. “I’m glad we decided to teach him to be back amongst horses in his last trial. He’s still a bit on and off and is still learning, but he’s got a lot of ability. He looks like an ideal 2000 Guineas-type horse. We’ve got a few of those in the stable at the moment, so it’s exciting.”

Zafar was the second debut winner in the space of a week for 2025 Ready to Run Sale graduates in the Walker/Bergerson stable. Last Saturday’s Te Rapa meeting featured a smart first-up victory by System Of Play (Ole Kirk), who Ellis bought for $480,000 from Ohukia Lodge’s draft. That colt is also reportedly on a 2000 Guineas path.

The 2000 Guineas at Riccarton will be run just a couple of weeks before the 2026 edition of the Ready to Run Sale, which is scheduled to take place at the Karaka Sales Centre on Wednesday 18 & Thursday 19 November with Breeze Ups to be held at Te Rapa Racecourse on Monday 12 & Tuesday 13 October (tbc).

Vendor	Kilgravin Lodge
Purchaser	Fortuna Ltd/David Ellis CNZM (BAFNZ) (Waikato)
Breeding	Snitzel – Zasorceress
Sale	Lot 204, 2025 Ready to Run Sale, $165,000
Breeder	Winton Bloodstock, Tom Payne
Owner	Fortuna Zafar Syndicate (Mgr: John Galvin)