‘Memory Lane’

It may seem somewhat strange but Adajal’s commendable completion of a handicap chase four timer at Cork last Friday sparked memories of one the brilliant milers from the 1980s.

The miler in question was Zilzal – the joint champion European Three-Year-Old of 1989 alongside Old Vic – who is the sire of the highly progressive Adajal.

In 2005 it was announced that Zilzal was to be pensioned from covering duties owing to a lack of demand for his services. At the time he was standing at Kirsten Rausing’s Lanwades Stud under the banner of Gainsborough Stud Management.

It represented a low key end to the career of a horse who, in his only season to race, developed into a standout performer in 1989 – also the year of Nashwan. Repeatedly history has shown that a superb career on the track is no guarantee of success at stud for either colt or filly.

In Zilzal’s case he had fallen out of fashion by the time he was pensioned but a reflection on his achievements at stud gives rise to the belief that under less than ideal circumstances his performance as a stallion was creditable.

Back to his six race career on the track and Zilzal was a ten length winner of a Leicester winner’s event on his debut on May 30th 1989. A free sweater and always on edge before his races the Nureyev colt was impeccably behaved through his races.

An odds winner of the Jersey Stakes on his second start, Zilzal went on to land the Sussex Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in terrific style. Unfortunately his career ended on a low key note – mirroring that of several other European greats – when he could manage only sixth as the evens favourite for the Breeders Cup Mile.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but for a horse who failed to produce his best on his only outing in America it mightn’t have served Zilzal’s stud career all that well for him to initially take up stallion duties in Kentucky.
In addition his fertility initially left something to be desired and his first crop numbered only 14 foals. Indeed 31 was the biggest number of foals he produced from his first six crops. Under these circumstances it probably isn’t surprising that Zilzal never quite captured the imagination of breeders.

However his statistics don’t make bad reading. 16 crops yielded 396 foals, 320 runners and 214 winners of 719 races.

Furthermore he produced horses the calibre of the Sussex Stakes winner Among Men, the French 1000 Guineas heroine Always Loyal, the high class French miler Shaanxi, the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes scorer Faithful Son and the very capable duo of Zilzal Zaman and Nero Zilzal.

As a broodmare sire this formerly great miler has also made an impact through the likes of the multiple Group 1 scorer Darjina, the iconic Hong Kong miler Good Ba Ba, the Prix de l’Abbaye hero Var, the Queen Anne Stakes winner No Excuse Needed and the Dubai World Cup runner-up Dynever.

In all Zilzal achieved more at stud than he might get credit for. Understandably all focus is on Epsom this week but Adajal’s recent Cork success revived memories of a brilliant horse. Interestingly Zilzal’s offspring that have gone jumping have numbered several high class two mile chasers including the current David Pipe inmate I’m So Lucky and the unfortunate Latolomne.

On an Epsom theme one could do worse than support Midas Touch each way in the Derby. A son of Galileo out of a ten furlong Stakes-winning daughter of Darshaan, he has impeccable credentials on pedigree. Further he won the Derrinstown Derby Trial on his last start and that race has been the best guide of all to the Derby over the last decade. Of the last nine Derrinstown winners to take part at Epsom only one has finished outside the first four.