The durable Mazu at rising eight remains full of vim and vigour on the racetrack, controlling the race from the front to seal his three-peat in Saturday’s Group 3 $250,000 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m).
Trained by Joe Pride, Mazu had taken the Hall Mark previously amid heavy conditions ideally matching his strengths, though the firm track demanded a sizzling 1m 8.19s effort to repeat.
Pride’s accomplishment was multifaceted as a trainer, peaking with the stable’s trifecta completed by siblings King’s Secret runner-up and Private Eye in third, the group divided by a mere half length.
Stablemate Kerguelen was not far off, crossing the line a length-and-a-half back for fifth.
“To train the trifecta in any race, particularly a Group 3, is very satisfying,” Pride said. “All four of my horses ran great races.
“But Mazu, what a fantastic old warrior he is. We’ve won three of these in-a-row and done it on a dry track today.
“I think this track’s got a little bit of give in it because In Flight won here last week and she has a similar record where her best form is on wet tracks.”
Mazu ($3.70) with Rachel King aboard scraped home by a head against King’s Secret ($7.50), the favourite Private Eye ($3.30) powering home a short neck adrift in third.
“I think he knows this is his race; he loves it,” King said of Mazu.
“I was concerned with the firmer deck today, I just didn’t know how he’d let down on it.
“But that last 50m, he pinned his ears back and he just wanted to beat them.
“I love seeing an older horse like that, even if he only wins one race a year, he deserves it.”
The victory echoed the stable’s prior trifecta in a headline race at Randwick, where Chris Waller had Fireball conquer Campione D’Italia and Diameter in the Group 1 Champagne Stakes.
Mazu’s ledger now reads 10-46 with earnings climbing to $10.8 million for Triple Crown Syndications’ Chris Ward and Sam Manion.
Turning to his runners’ efforts, Pride commenced with Mazu. “Mazu’s grumpy, he’s not the kind of guy you want to hang out with on a long-term sort of basis,” Pride said.”It has to be all on his terms and we let him do that. He does everything as he wants, we don’t tell him what he has to do. He’s enjoying his racing and hopefully there’s another season or two left in him.
“We might give him a break. He doesn’t do much in Brisbane generally, but we’ll get him home and have a look at him.
“King’s Secret was really good. I think, out of the race, he’s probably the real eye-catcher because he’s not ready for all this yet, but I thought it was terrific.
“Private Eye’s probably looking for that a little bit further. Maybe just being a bit older, being first up is not as big an advantage as it used to be, but I thought he was good to the line.
“Kerguelen was super, he was really good from the back – so I couldn’t be happier with how it has worked out for the stable.”
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