Another trip to Brisbane is on the cards for six-year-old Mazu after he took out the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes at Randwick for the second-straight year.
With star Melbourne-based jockey Jamie Melham reuniting with the gelding in Saturday’s 1200m race, Mazu ($4.40) was able to settle just behind the lead set by betting sites favourite Ostraka and then pounced over the final 200m once a gap appeared.
The winner of the 2022 Group 1 Doomben 10,000 hit the front approaching the 100m mark in Saturday’s race and he went on to defeat his Joe Pride-trained stablemate Coal Crusher ($9.50) by 1-1/2-lengths, with a neck back to Givemethebeatboys ($19) in third.
The Hall Mark win was Mazu’s first victory since the same race 12 months ago, and once again Pride is looking to take the sprinter to Queensland for targets during the upcoming Winter Carnival.
Mazu was unplaced in the Doomben 10,000 and finished second in the Group 2 Moreton Cup in Brisbane last year after winning the Hall Mark, and Pride said the Doomben 10,000 (1200m) again looked one of the obvious races to head towards.
“Jamie seems to have a real affinity with this horse and we’ll see if we can get her on for something maybe up in Queensland,” Pride said.
“Mazu is a weight-for-age winner, he’s a Doomben 10,000 winner.
“The sprinters probably aren’t at that elite level this year so we’ll probably freshen him up and give him a couple of targets there in Brisbane.”
Pride had three runners in Saturday’s race and the trainer said the way the race was run suited Mazu best on the day.
“It was a funny run race in the end,” Pride said.
“He was coming up underneath them and Ostraka didn’t seem to want to cross and that kept Coal Crusher in an awkward position.
“Coal Crusher ran bravely as well, it was a good run, and Dragonstone probably had things against him coming from back in the field.”
Melham has now ridden Mazu in three races for two Hall Mark Stakes wins and a second placing in last year’s Moreton Cup.
“I love this horse,” Melham said.
“He’s a horse you can’t tell what to do, you’ve got to ask him.
“It’s up to him. If he brings his best, he brings his best and he’s normally too good for them and today he decided to.
“It probably looked messy the first half of the race but I love when you can finally got a sit on him and only expose him for that 200m, because if you expose him for the whole straight sometimes his brain overthinks things. But it worked out perfectly today.”
