‘Like A Knife Through Butter’: Johnson Houghton In Awe Of Penalty-Defying Vintage Hero Zavateri

[Wandering Eyes]

Insulted at 8-1, Zavateri (Without Parole) stepped up again as he had at Newmarket to make light of a three-pound penalty in Tuesday's G2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood. Impressive in last month's G2 July Stakes, Mick and Janice Mariscotti's great-grandson of Zarkava was again forced to race wide without cover but once more produced that emphatic turn of acceleration for Charles Bishop to swamp the leaders a furlong out and hold Morris Dancer (Palace Pier) by a short head. Do Or Do Not (Space Blues) was in the frame for the third time in a Group race, 1 3/4 lengths away in third.

Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton was impressed. “He had to win his race twice, he amazes me, what a dude he is,” she said. “He is so straightforward at home, through the race and is not a hard ride so touch wood long may it last. We had to go somewhere with a Group Two penalty and I thought if he was beaten here it would be because of that. I had it in my mind he would have a nice break until the Dewhurst, but it didn't beat him. He cut through the pack like a knife through butter and was going again at the end.”

Thriller

Despite conceding weight all round, digs deep to fend off the strong late challenge from Morris Dancer in a cracking finish to the @Coral Vintage Stakes.@johnsonhoughton | @bishopcharlie12 pic.twitter.com/QQJG07AGR4

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 29, 2025

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