Taking his earnings past $9m for Triple Crown Syndications, the Joe Pride trained Mazu (Maurice) hasn’t won since this meeting last year but put the writing on the wall at his last two starts before going back-to-back in the Group 3 ATC Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Randwick.
A winner of the Group 1 BTC Doomben 10,000 during his three-year-old season which was off the back of defeating In The Congo (Snitzel) in the Group 2 ATC Arrowfield 3yo Sprint, the gelding has always been there abouts in his races with placed efforts in races like the Everest, TJ Smith Stakes and Doomben 10,000, but it wasn’t until last year’s Hall Mark Stakes that he revisited the winner’s enclosure after a stellar three-year-old season.
Away well from the inside barrier, jockey Jamie Melham settled him on the rail where he tracked the short priced favourite Ostraka (Not A Single Doubt) throughout.
Melham looked for some clear running between the leading duo at the 400m mark before a gap finally appearing with 200m to run. Extending past stablemate, and eventual second placegetter Coal Crusher (Turffontein), Mazu pulled clear to win by a length and a quarter.
Likely to head towards the Doomben 10,000 once again, Pride will surely be chasing Melham for the ride.
"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.
"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."
Melham who has now ridden Mazu three times for wins in consecutive Hall Mark Stakes, showed her admiration for the gelding post-race.
"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."
Purchased for $180,000 by Triple Crown Syndications out of the Parsons Creek Pastoral draft at the 2020 Classic Yearling Sale, Mazu is a half-brother to 2008/09 Champion 2YO Filly Headway (Charge Forward) whose four wins included the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, while she was also a runner-up in the Golden Slipper.
Mazu is one of 30 stakes winners, and six Group 1 winners for the Arrowfield Stud shuttle stallion Maurice (Screen Hero) who will stand the upcoming breeding season for $55,000 (inc. GST) alongside his triple Group 1-winning son Hitotsu who will cover his third book of mares at a fee of $22,000 (inc. GST).
