Three years ago Graham Begg's gifted staying mare Lunar Flare asserted her dominance by five and a half lengths in the Listed VRC Andrew Ramsden Stakes at Flemington to deny her rivals a golden ticket and cement her place at the top of Melbourne Cup markets.
But the daughter of Fiorente would be sensationally scratched on Cup eve with a bruised heel, and her veteran trainer would have all of his legendary patience put to the test.
Begg got the 8YO Lunar Flare back on track and she lined up as favourite in the G2 MV Gold Cup the following spring after a slashing run in the G1 Turnbull Stakes - but there would be no redemption. Again, misfortune struck and this time the injury was career ending.
Lunar Flare was the first horse Grahame Begg trained that was good enough to get into the Cup field. In 2021 the Cranbourne-based conditioner's middle distance performer Nonconformist had run second in the Caulfield Cup, but didn't contest the gruelling two-miler.
Now Begg has a horse that is looking like he'll eat up 3200m, and his name is Zakouma!
On Saturday at Flemington, the five year old son of Crowded House ( GB) pulled out a performance in the Listed 2800m Andrew Ramsden Stakes at set weights that was as impressive as Lunar Flare's in its way.
He charged home from the back of the field at odds of 4/1 to run over the top of 9/1 veteran Pounding ( Exceed And Excel) and a gallant Sir Chartwell ( Churchill). The latter at odds of 66/1, had broken away from them in the straight and looked the winner but was just found wanting late.
Run at a genuine tempo, the race satisfyingly turned into the true test of stamina punters want to see from a Melbourne Cup qualifying race.
Lindsay Park's second favourite The Western Front ( War Decree) also made up many lengths from the ruck, but not even the Flemington straight proved long enough on this occasion!
Sent off favourite was the reigning Sydney Cup hero Changingoftheguard ( Galileo) who was more than forty lengths down the track at the finish and unfortunately pulled up lame, with Waller's Irish import Zarir (Frankel) behind him.
The Adelaide Cup winner American Wolf ( Tivaci) turned in a solid but dour performance while last year's winner Basilinna ( Staphanos) hadn't placed in any of her starts since and remained well down on form with her lacklustre showing.
Zakouma on the other hand was fairly motoring for Jordan Childs, and the further they went the better the big gelding looked to be going.
The lightly raced Zakouma is slated to attract the minimum of 51 kg in the Cup under the ratings based handicappers template, and couldn't even squeeze into the Listed Mornington Cup field last month due to his low rating.
“That will get his rating up now I guess,” Begg said after the race.
“Full credit to the horse, he beat the weight scale today. This horse is a true staying horse … we’ll tailor (his spring campaign) around getting him here, fit and well, on the first Tuesday in November.”
“They were going to try and make it a true staying test.I told him ( Childs) be patient … sit, wait, they’ll come back to you at some stage”.
“Even at the 200m I thought he’s still got a bit to do, but he’s an extraordinary horse … his aerobic capacity is amazing.”
Zakouma has now won five of his fourteen starts and placed in three more for earnings of $375,110.
He has never finished further back than sixth, and that was at his racetrack debut over 1600m at Pakenham as a three year old in February 2024.
Zakouma is a homebred for West Aussie Trevor Delroy of Wyadup Valley Farms.
The savvy and determined Delroy is one of those admirable breeders who care nothing for fashion and follow their own star - with notable success.
Zakouma's sire Crowded House commenced his breeding career at Wattle Grove Stud in NSW where he stood alongside the champion Helenus, also owned by Delroy and from whom he bred the G1 winning stayers Ethiopia and Cedarburg.
Intent on establishing a presence in Victoria, Delroy established Wyadup Valley Farm's Lancefield property and relocated the flashy imported G1 winner Crowded House to the new facility managed by studmaster Ian Macpherson.
The incredibly handsome and blueblooded Crowded House deserved more attention that he received from mare owners.
As a juvenile Crowded House started his career in brilliant style for trainer Brian Meehan, impressively winning the coveted stallion-making G1 Racing Post Trophy ( since 2017 the Futurity Trophy) at Doncaster in 2008.
Previous winners include such luminaries as Hardicanute, High Top, Green Dancer, Noble Bijou, High Chaparral, Camelot, Saxon Warrior, St Nicholas Abbey and Auguste Rodin.
The turn of foot he unleashed to win the prestigious G1 was elite and the colt absolutely smashed a top class field.
Unfortunately, in doing so he suffered a sesamoid injury, which somewhat dulled his brilliance. Nevertheless, he raced on until the age of five at the highest level.
Bred at the Car Colston Hall Stud in Nottinghamshire, the striking chestnut liberally adorned with white had a blueblood’s pedigree to match his looks, being by Blushing Groom’s Arc hero and champion sire Rainbow Quest from a daughter of Storm Cat’s stakes winning half sister Chapel Of Dreams.
Crowded House never won another major, but he went close. At three he was an unlucky sixth in the Epsom Derby to Sea The Stars when severely checked while making ground in the closing stages.
At four, Crowded House raced in Dubai on the Tapeta where he performed well in Group races without winning, but failed to fire back on the turf at the Royal Ascot and Newmarket meetings.
Then it was off to the USA, where the big chestnut was a promising fourth at his first start in the G1 Eddie Read Hcp at Del Mar. He then moved up stylishly to win the G1 Pacific Classic on Del Mar’s polytrack surface, but was run down in the last stride and beaten a nose.
“For future middle distance horses, it’s ( Racing Post / Futurity) probably the best race to win as a two year old in the UK, and that’s how I got interested in him, after seeing him win with his incredible turn of foot,” Trevor Delroy said at the time the stallion commenced service in Victoria.
“You don’t see that very often, and that’s a very worthwhile characteristic to pursue in a stallion if you are trying to breed top quality middle distance horses.”
“The point of the matter is, if he hadn’t had the injury setback and had gone on to win or place in the Derby or the 2000 Guineas we would have never got him.”
Crowded House like another son of Rainbow Quest, Quest For Fame has potential to be an elite broodmare sire.
Crowded House died in 2021. He stood for eight seasons, during which time his biggest book was 29 mares (most of his progeny were out of Delroy’s own well bred matrons) and sired 111 foals.
Zakouma is his only stakes winner. But gee there are some interesting youngsters out of his daughters coming along!
Wyadup Valley Farm retain a number of them and there may well be another Cups contender among the progeny they are producing to current resident sire Johannes Vermeer - Galileo’s G1 FR Gran Criterium hero who placed in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups of 2017.
But let’s get back to the breeding of Zakouma, because it really is something to make all pedigree nerds do a little dance of joy.
It’s a story of sisters.Let’s start with Delroy’s G1 Queensland Oaks winning filly Gondokoro and her G1 SA Derby winning full brother Zabeelionaire ( one of the best Zabeel names ever wasn't it?) which he bred from the winning Carnegie daughter Kisumu.
Kisumu visited Zabeel five times and this Blue Hen produced two full sisters to Gondokoro, one Flametree Of Thika ( placed) is the dam of Wyadup Farm broodmare Lola Betty and the other is Zakouma's unraced dam Dar Es Salaam.
Zakouma is her first foal to race. He has a year younger half sister Farasi by Needs Further who has had one start to date. Dar Es Salaam had two years off before she produced a 2024 filly to Johannes Vermeer, then was rested from breeding again.
Zakouma is bred
Raise A Native 5f,5m x
Northern Dancer 4f x 5m,5m,6m
Nureyev x4f,5f
Blue Hen Derna x5f,5f
His dam Dar Es Salaam is by Zabeel - dam by Nureyev from Valderna by Val De Loir, (a son of Blue Hen Vali) from Derna.
Her dam Kisimu is by Carnegie (by Sadlers Wells who sex balances Special, the dam of Nureyev and is out of Derna's daughter Detroit by Never Bend son Riverman)
Her fourth dam Vivre En Paix is by Nureyev out of Vali's daughter Veda who was sired by Vieux Manoir's grandson Snob!
Into this hothouse mix we throw the influence of Blue Hen Lalun, duplicated by her sons Bold Reason and Never Bend x 2 and the mighty genetic affinities she has with Zacouma's second damsire Darshaan, the greatest nick for Carnegie's sire Sadler's Wells.
These three lines of matriarch Derna by Teddy's son Sunny Boy and introduction of Vali ( also by Sunny Boy) as damsire of Vieux Manoir work so well because Vieux Manoir descends from the same family as Nureyev and Sadler's Wells.
It's a pedigree that really needs to be printed out on a twelve generation spreadsheet to be fully appreciated and admired! Because it's also about the interplay of nicks between the breedshaping French sires sire Teddy - there is honestly more Teddy going on here than at a teddy bear's picnic - and Djebel, as well as Djebel’s sire Tourbillon and his female line ( Lalun's damsire Djeddah is absolutely a lynchpin in it all) It's linebreeding on a pretty epic scale, but it's so balanced and well thought out.
Now what does Crowded House bring to the equation? That famous turn of foot for starters. It's no surprise that his close relation Storm Cat has forged a prosperous nick with the great Classic influence Galileo. Zabeel is “our” Galileo.
Back in the damlines of Crowded House fourth damsire Crimson Satan we find two daughters of Val Dor, sired by the English Triple Crown hero Flying Fox who is also the grandsire of Teddy while Crowded House himself descends from a daughter of Sir Gallahad by Teddy from Blue Hen Plucky Liege ( family 16-a)
His tail male line ancestor Blushing Groom is a close relative of Darshaan’s grandsire Mill Reef, with Blushing Groom coming through Rainbow Quest who is from the family of Jock, sire of Zabeel's inbred ancestor Sunny Boy. Sunny Boy, and Zacouma's duplicated damline all tap into the family 16 ( Agnes) affinities on the female line of Crowded House.
As well, this amazing pedigree boasts key duplications of Blue Hens Somethingroyal, All Moonshine, La Troienne and Boxeuse, the ancestress of Derna herself - she is the third dam of the mighty Herbarger, the damsire of Rainbow Quest.
Do yourself a favour (as Molly Meldrum would say about every new Crowded House release) - and check it out!
Zakouma is the second horse to win a golden ticket into the 2026 edition of “the race that stops a nation”, joining the Glen Thompson trained Whisky On The Hill ( Ribchester) , who did his dearly missed first trainer Mike Moroney proud when he won the Lexus Roy Higgins (2600m) at Flemington on Australian Cup Day.
The next race offering ballot exemption will be the Belmont Gold Cup to be run at Saratoga Racecourse in June.
