After several false starts, Zoustar filly Kazou has finally made it to the races, living up to her barrier trial form with an accomplished debut win on the Kensington circuit.
The three-year-old has been paid up to run several times, including at Kembla Grange on Saturday, but was scratched due to track conditions or unfavourable draws.
While she still had an awkward gate to overcome in Wednesday’s Fujitsu General Plate (1300m), trainer Chris Waller decided Kazou could wait no longer, so the filly headed to the midweek meeting and got the job done with an impressive 4-3/4 length win.
“I think she was scratched four times and enough is enough,” Waller’s stable representative Charlie Duckworth said.
“You’ve got to send her through to the races because they are horses and they can have issues and have enough and all of a sudden you have to send her to the paddock with no run under her belt.
“Fantastic to get the maiden win today and we’ll regroup and work out where we can go.”
Kazou went to the front for Kerrin Mcevoy, who was able to give her a breather during the middle stages before asking for another effort in the straight.
The filly’s response was immediate, Kazou ($2.35 fav) extending beautifully and clearing away from her rivals to beat Cavaup ($11) with the winner’s stablemate Maritima ($4.60) closing nicely for third.
McEvoy feels Kazou still needs to mature mentally but with time and racing, he believes she can develop into a handy horse.
“She is a tiny but ‘revvy’, but the further she went into the race, the better rhythm she got into,” McEvoy said.
“I’m assuming Chris and the team wouldn’t go too big this preparation and just chip away and tread carefully and hopefully she is a bit sounder mentally next time in.
“That’s when she can tackle some harder races but good start for her there.”
McEvoy will be in action at the Golden Eagle meeting at Rosehill on Saturday before setting his sights on a fourth Melbourne Cup win on Tuesday when he links with international raider and nominal favourite Deauville Legend.
