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Oaks win a dual-hemisphere triumph

Zardozi winning the Oaks.

ZARDOZI winning the Kennedy Oaks at Flemington in Australia.
ZARDOZI winning the Kennedy Oaks at Flemington in Australia. Picture: Steve Hart

Sheikh Mohammed's decision to export Chanderi to Australia paid dividends when the foal the Dubawi mare was carrying at the time she travelled from Europe won Thursday's $1 million VRC Oaks.

Zardozi made it two VRC Oaks wins in three years for James Cummings when she was too classy for her rivals in the 2500-metre Classic.

It was the second success at the highest level in Australia for Juddmonte stallion Kingman, who landed his maiden Australian Group 1 when King Colorado won the J J Atkins in Brisbane.

Chanderi is out of the Salakhani mare Silk Sari, who won four of 10 races including the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes (2900m) and finished second in the Group 1 British Champions F&M Stakes (2412m).

Cummings felt honoured to have been entrusted with the job of getting the best out of Chanderi's progeny.

"It's just a real privilege to be on the big stage with beautifully-bred horses like this," he said.

"She's a real reflection of his honour Sheikh Mohamed's vision to have an international pedigree here in a VRC Oaks and, for only a slender filly, she packed a punch at the end of a mile-and-a-half, as we had full confidence in her to do.

"She is out of a mare that is underperformed but she is a granddaughter of a very talented Dalakani mare.

"Those bloodlines came through to the fore and it is a good recipe (to) find some good European staging blood and send them to a local trainer in Australia and it is amazing how that recipe can be."

Zardozi traces back to one of Sheikh Mohammed's star performers of the 1990s with Silk Sari a granddaughter of Gossamer, who is a sister to Europe's Horse of the Year from 1994, Barathea.

After giving birth to Zardozi, Chanderi was covered by Lonhro and produced a colt that is now two and is known as Adinath, while she also has a yearling colt by Exceed And Excel and was last year covered by Palace Pier.


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