Racing: Zarius takes long road to Cup glory

Zarius and Lisa Cropp grab victory in the Cup. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Forget class, luck is the defining element of horse racing - ask Lisa Cropp, Mark Walker, Scott Seamer, Bob Emery and, if you could, you'd even try $200,000 City of Auckland Cup winner Zarius.

This was a win that should never have been.

At 7.30am yesterday Zarius, the horse who couldn't be given away a couple of years ago, was lounging around his Matamata paddock with no immediate engagements.

His Auckland Cup hope ended when he was balloted out requiring four scratchings.

Staggeringly, he got those four scratchings right on the 7.30am deadline and trainer Mark Walker had to quickly drag him out, saddle him, take him to the track and apply a very searching 600m gallop.

Australian jockey Scott Seamer was lying on the bed of his Auckland hotel room after flying in overnight from Brisbane.

Seamer had first refusal on the Zarius Cup ride and was surprised to hear on television in his hotel that the horse had re-entered the field.

He was even more surprised to learn from Trackside Television that Lisa Cropp had the ride.

"So I went and had breakfast."

Not long after Mark Walker called Seamer to say he wanted him on Zarius.

"I told Mark I'd had a cup of tea and would be half a kilo overweight - the owner didn't want to carry overweight so I couldn't accept."

Seamer said the 52kg was never going to be a problem: "I rode 52.5kg easily at Doomben yesterday."

Zarius' Cup bid needed no more setbacks but it received it when the rising staying star missed the jump and settled a clear last.

Then he looked a $100 chance when at the tail of the field and not looking to be balanced on the home bend.

"He got checked three or four times in the second half of the race," said Lisa Cropp.

Typical of the stock of Zabeel, Zarius overcame all those setback, pinned his ears back and overtook the entire field with a stayers run that made him look every bit a 3200m horse.

Mark Walker, having a magnificent run with his team, shook his head in the birdcage with a mixture of delight and disbelief that his stayer's luck could swing so violently.

"Earlier on I was very confident of this horse winning the Cup.

"I reckon the winning of the race was the quick sprint I gave him this morning."

Owner Bob Emery, best known as the breeder of horses like Champagne and Dr Green, said he didn't race geldings unless "forced" and unsuccessfully took Zarius to the Sydney yearling sales then couldn't quit him again at a mixed bloodstock sale at Karaka.

The reserve was only $40,000 off a Zabeel stallion fee that year of $100,000-plus.

The horse no one wanted is now possibly looking towards Melbourne Cup glory in November.

"He's qualified now," said Emery.

Sir Patrick Hogan, who stands Zabeel, marched up to Emery in the Winners' Circle and said: "If you now run in the Auckland Cup in March, you can't win the Melbourne Cup because of weight".

"I'm happy to waive the Auckland Cup," said Emery.

Visiting Australian jockey Craig Williams nearly stole the race on Kind Return.

She refused to settle for Williams when Gorgeous George tried to take the front off her leaving the straight and Williams put that down to the mare's aggressiveness.

"She cooks herself a lot mentally before a race.

"She relaxed for only half the race and that's probably always going to be the case for her in staying races."

Favourite Kerry O'Reilly finished third without really looking likely to win. He got a long way back and produced a dour last 300m to get into the trifecta frame.

In-form Pretorius pulled hard for Grant Cooksley and had little left in the final stages, finishing 13th.

And if you want one more quote about luck in horse racing, you might call Michael Walker.

Before Walker broke his thumb he was staring at winning rides in the $100,000 Eight Carat Classic and $100,000 Royal Stakes on Shikoba and Zarius in the Cup.

He wasn't about to let himself get down about his fortunes.

"You've got to laugh - if you don't you'll cry."

* Cropp was only on Zarius after her original cup mount, Partee, had to be destroyed yesterday morning.

The mare shattered a leg when she kicked a rail on Saturday.

"There was no way to save her," said co-trainer Chris Bothwell, who also shared in the mare's ownership.

DAY OF DRAMA

* Zarius won the City Of Auckland Cup after only making the field at 7.30am.

* He was ridden by Lisa Cropp, who also won the Railway Handicap.

* Zarius was a horse owner Bob Emery failed to sell at two sales.

* He may now be set for the Melbourne Cup.