One of the highlights on Friday’s massive Pink Diamond finals night was the runaway victory of the ‘Team Dailly’ trained Zara’s Ivan in the Listed $42,840 Rookie Sprinter final (450m).
Last year, the $25,000 to-the-winner Rookie Sprinter was the race that launched eventual Melbourne Cup hero Koblenz on the road to stardom, with this year’s winner Zara’s Ivan already no stranger to elite company, being a dual Group 1 finalist.
Having run fourth in both the G1 Golden Easter Egg and National Derby at Wentworth Park in Sydney, Zara’s Ivan, a well-related son of Barcia Bale and Zara’s Entity, bred by Maureen Barry, started $2.50 favourite in the Rookie Sprinter.
It was a one-act affair as he romped to a 7.75L victory over Jungle Panther, a half-brother to last year’s winner Koblenz, in a Best Of Night 24.94sec, eclipsing champion Ferdinand Boy’s 25.10sec performance in the Champion Sprinter event.
“In Sydney he ran into a bitch called She’s A Pearl, I don’t know if you know her!” quipped handler Brad Keel.
“It was a huge drop in class and once he jumped to the front that was it. He’s a very, very fast animal when he lets rip and from Group 1 class down to this makes a big difference.”
