Zavateri set for British Champions Day swansong

Zavateri is set to make his final racecourse appearance in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.

Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton confirmed her stable star, the impressive winner of the Group Two Celebration Mile at Goodwood last weekend, will be retired to stud after bidding to add a second Group One to his CV on Qatar Racing British Champions Day on October 17.

“He has come out of Goodwood really well and we are so happy with him. He is a star horse and he will go for the QEII now,” said Johnson Houghton.

“Sadly that looks like it might be the full stop on his career, let alone his season. He is going to stand as a stallion and is off to Tally Ho next year, so sadly it looks that way.

“It is great for his owners and it is what it is. That was the deal that was struck and it will allow his owners to go back in.

“Overall you would have to be really happy with him. He has been a star.”

Even with a stud career agreed, the Ascot finale is not exactly a shot to nothing, for all that Zavateri has a Group One in the bag from last season as a two-year-old when winning the National Stakes at the Curragh.

Having suffered a setback in the spring, Johnson Houghton was thrilled to see the son of Without Parole again show his quality and make up for lost ground in the midsummer with his impressive Goodwood success on soft ground last Saturday.

“He has proved he goes on soft ground and has won on good to firm and yielding, so he goes on anything,” said the Blewbury handler.

“”His setback in the spring was a tiny hairline fracture, but that’s all fixed and fine.

“I think he wants a mile now and probably even a mile and two furlongs, but we won’t be going for that now.”