"He's an extremely genuine horse."
If there was a mid-term prize for broodmare sire, Zabeel would walk away with it unchallenged.
Horses out of his mares have been running riot.
Single Minded had Saturday's big race won a long way out. He was tracking the leaders comfortably and it was a matter of when Craig Grylls asked for an effort.
The only danger moment came when out-of-form Booming made a lightning dash at him at the 200m, but he seemed to get anchored in the closing stages by his 59kg compared with the 55.5kg the winner had on his back.
Still it was a return to form by Booming, who has been through a frustrating run of outs for his connections, which included an aborted trip to the Melbourne spring carnival.
It was another big race win for The Oaks Stud, whose white colours with the blue band have been very prominent.
Blood Brotha and The Jungle Boy looked good for the Auckland Cup in finishing third and fourth.
Stewards questioned the effort of the warm favourite, Wisecrack, who raced well below his best in finishing seventh, a little more than five lengths from the winner.
Rider James McDonald told stewards he believed Wisecrack could have been feeling the effects of recent racing.
Co-trainer Ken Kelso advised stewards that Wisecrack would now be spelled.
The race was robbed of some interest with the late scratching of Maythehorsebemagic. The transporter carrying Maythehorsebemagic broke down north of Cambridge.
You can still get $7 about Single Minded completing the big three treble at Ellerslie in the Auckland Cup.
Single Minded shares second favouritism with Booming behind the stand-out choice Shez Sinsational on $3. Titch, who won the Wairoa Cup yesterday, is at $9, followed by Six O'Clock News on $14 and Options at $18.
