Zavateri, out of Avenue purchase Zeroua, enters Classic reckoning after Vintage success

Fresh from his win in the Group 2 Kingdom Of Bahrain July Stakes at Newmarket, Zavateri again looked a colt out of the top drawer when furthering his unbeaten record in the Group 2 Coral Vintage Stakes at Goodwood on Tuesday.

The Without Parole colt is the first foal out of Zeroua, who was bought by Avenue Bloodstock on behalf of the Gunthers at the 2021 Arqana December Sale.

Owned by Mick and Janice Mariscotti and trained by Eve Johnson Houghton, Zavateri showed an impressive turn of foot to quicken through the field under Charles Bishop before holding off the challenge of Morris Dancer.

“It’s great,” said Eve Johnson Houghton. “People like to see an underdog win. That was Godolphin versus our little Without Parole. Everyone’s very happy and so are we.”

Asked if he was the best she had trained, she said: “Oh God yeah. Dad [Fulke Johnson Houghton] trained Tout Seul while I was around and he was brilliant, but this lad would be better.

“He’s just so tough, he had to win his race twice. He went to win it and then William [Buick, rider of Morris Dancer] came at him, so he had to win it again. He just amazes me, he’s such a dude and a lovely horse. He cut through the pack like a knife through butter.”

Dam Zeroua was bred by Aga Khan Studs and hails from one of their most iconic families as a granddaughter of champion Zarkava.

John Gunther told the Racing Post: “We tried to purchase some nice mares for Without Parole and, the way I look at it, if you send him a nice mare, he can throw a good horse. That’s really what it’s all about. Hopefully Zavateri can be a game-changer for him.

“It means so much to have Without Parole throw a couple of good horses. For sure it’s not just the financial end of it, it just makes you feel so good planning the matings and seeing the horse do well.

“We’ve got the mare back in foal to Without Parole and next year we’re considering going to Frankel with her. It’s a great pedigree. I always loved Zarkava; when she won the races she won she was just unbelievable. To have her in that pedigree is really something. When we saw [Zeroua] at the sale in France we were amazed we got her for the price we got her at. I thought she’d sell for quite a bit more so we were really excited about buying her. Sometimes you get lucky.”