Veteran sprinter Mazu was happy to remind the clerks of the course who was boss pre-race, and he did the same at the finish of The Shorts as he ran his rivals ragged to post an upset win.
Not for the first time, Mazu stopped en route to the starting stalls and refused to budge for several minutes, kicking out at the clerk of the course horses as they attempted to cajole him to the barriers.
They eventually won the standoff and Mazu took his stroppiness into battle, finding the front and refusing to lay down.
He lasted by a neck over Joliestar, with the winner’s Joe Pride-trained stablemate King’s Secret another nose away third.
“He walked straight out of here going, no, no I’ll go to the gates, and then stopped up there. Sometimes he can stop two or three times on the way to the gates,” Pride said.
“He’s going to beat me sooner or later.
“It’s funny, he’s so reluctant to get there, but then so quick to get home.”
The winner of The Shorts is usually courted for a slot in The Everest, but Pride is lukewarm on heading to the October feature with the eight-year-old.
Mazu has contested The Everest (1200m) three times, his best result a third to Giga Kick in 2022, and while Pride says the ultimate decision will rest with the horse’s owners, his preference isn’t to take on Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising.
“To be fair to him, he’s had a few goes in Everests and it’s not really his race,” Pride said.
“The only thing I would say is if on the day it was wet, he’d probably be in the contest. But other than that, running a nice sixth or seventh doesn’t interest me a lot.”
Labelling Mazu “an old marvel”, Pride was, however, thrilled to take The Shorts (1100m) win on Saturday and equally rapt with the performance of stablemate King’s Secret.
Both sprinters are likely to meet again later in the carnival, although they may be split for their next starts.
“They could both end up in the Premiere Stakes, but I think maybe with King’s Secret he’ll find a bit more improvement off that run than some of the others, so either the Premiere here or the Gilgai Stakes down in Melbourne, which his brother (Private Eye) won,” Pride said.
“The Sydney Stakes is a likely race for them both, and maybe the Russell Balding Stakes as well.”
Rachel King has built a solid association with Mazu, riding him in his past six starts, including to his Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) victory in April, and said he always gave his all, despite his quirks.
“They should never forget about him. He’s so honest,” King said.
“Even though he gives us hell before the race, he really wants to be there.”
In a race where the backmarkers failed to make much impression, the riders of Everest hopefuls Joliestar (second), Headwall (fifth) and Ninja (ninth) all gave their horses a tick of approval under the circumstances.
“It was gifted to the horses on speed. He ran well,” Tommy Berry said of Ninja, the only horse currently confirmed for an Everest slot.
