‘This Would Be The Icing On The Cake’: Zavateri Primed For The Dewhurst

[Wandering Eyes]

Unbeaten Dewhurst winners are common, but unbeaten Dewhurst winners who have already won a July Stakes, Vintage Stakes and National Stakes are extremely rare and Zavateri (Without Parole) looks to complete that formidable quartet in Saturday's Darley-sponsored Newmarket feature. The one that very much got away from the bloodstock cognoscenti at 35,000gns, the huge talent whose third dam is the brilliant Zarkava has taken everything thrown at him at the July Festival, Glorious Goodwood and Irish Champions Weekend in his impressive stride.

“He's great, he's been working really, really well and we're going there full of hope,” trainer Eve Johnson Houghton said of the chestnut, her “dude” who could emulate her late father Fulke's 2002 Dewhurst hero Tout Seul. “He obviously hasn't run at the track before, but he handled the July course and he handled Goodwood, so we've got every reason to believe that he'll handle this.”

“It will take a good horse to beat him and if they're better than him then so be it, but they will have to be very good,” she added. “He has been a dream this year, and to win this would really be the icing on the cake.”

Lining up against Zavateri once more is Ballydoyle's Gstaad (Starspangledbanner), who has a head to make up on his peer from their Curragh tussle. The Coventry winner and Prix Morny runner-up clearly stays this seven-furlong trip well, but it may be that he lacks that extra acceleration to reverse the form.

Favourite at present is Godolphin's Distant Storm (Night Of Thunder), who was impressive in the course-and-distance Tattersalls Stakes following his deflating third in the Acomb. Charlie Appleby also saddles the Superlative winner Saba Desert (Dubawi), who backtracked when last of six in the National. “Distant Storm matured a lot mentally for his run at York and got back on track on his latest start, when he was very impressive and picked up very well on the rising ground. It's a Dewhurst, and there's always plenty of strength to the race, but a repeat of his last run will make him very competitive,” he said.

“We took a route that we have taken before with Saba Desert, going from the Superlative Stakes to the National Stakes, but he was disappointing at the Curragh,” he added. “The ground was on the slow side of good that day and he never really picked up. He came out of the race without any issues and we are popping the cheek-pieces on this time to keep him focused and hopefully rekindle his Superlative Stakes form.”

If there is one outsider who could shake things up it could be Prince Faisal's Oxagon (Frankel), who was unable to get to Ballydoyle's Puerto Rico on soft ground in the Champagne Stakes last month. That form took on greater gravity on Sunday and he remains unexposed.

Godolphin's Autumn Domination To Continue?

Also on Newmarket's card is the G3 Emirates Autumn Stakes over the Guineas course and distance and which features another big Appleby hope in the July Course winner Al Zanati (Dubawi), who bids to enhance Godolphin's impressive record of seven wins from the last nine renewals. “We were confident about Al Zanati going into his debut, but he was very raw that day and has come on a lot for the run, both physically and mentally,” the trainer said. “He's a horse we like, he's a Dubawi, plenty of presence about him and he's a player.”

This is a fascinating affair, with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Flying Scotsman runner-up Hankelow (Night Of Thunder), Ballydoyle's duo of New Zealand (Frankel) and Straight Up (Wootton Bassett) and the Doncaster maiden winner Pathein (St Mark's Basilica), a TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard, adding intrigue ahead of the 2026 Classics.

In the 10-furlong G3 Night Of Thunder Zetland Stakes, Ballydoyle's two promising maiden winners Endorsement (Wootton Bassett) and Pierre Bonnard (Camelot) are taken on by Godolphin's Haynes, Hanson & Clark winner Look To The Stars (Galiway) who was eight lengths behind the Dewhurst contender Oxagon at Sandown this summer.

At Chantilly on Saturday, the feature is the six-furlong G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte where the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Samangan (Blue Point) bids to follow up his course-and-distance Prix Eclipse success for The Aga Khan Studs.

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