Zoustar Headed for Royal Ascot

Set to retire to Widden Stud later this year, dual Group I winning sprinter Zoustar is on track for an overseas assault on Royal Ascot in June.

The son of Northern Meteor is set to fly out of Sydney on Sunday with Widden Stud’s Antony Thompson outlining plans on Sky Sports Radio earlier this week.

“Chris (Waller ) was keen to get to England sooner rather than later,” Waller said.

“Obviously the tracks had gone against us in Sydney and we always had in the back of our minds going to Europe and having a real crack over there.

“Chris believes that he has the right horse to go and he is keen to get there and get him acclimatized and ready to race at Ascot and hopefully the July Cup.

“If there is a bit of a hiccup in the travel it gives you more time to get over it and there is always the risk of the horse losing weight, travel sickness and any of those little things.

“We will just get there and get him established.”

Zoustar will seek to emulate past Australian sprint winners at Royal Ascot such as Black Caviar, Miss Andretti, Scenic Boom, Takeover Target and of course Choisir.

“Chris was hoping to have a lead-up run, but there is probably not a suitable race,” Thompson said.

“As a three-year-old and a Group 1 winner there is not really any race where we can run him in suitable conditions; he obviously gets severely penalised in the obvious lead-up races at Ascot as a Group 1 winner.

“We will probably just give him a barrier trial there on the 6th of June with the idea of running him on the 21st.

“Chris is still happy to head towards the six furlong race (Diamond Jubilee Stakes) rather than the five furlong race on the first day.

“We will play it at the time on how the weather looks and how the horse has been established over there.

“We can always run him on the first day over five.”