NOVEMBER 8, 2012: Kooringal Stud resident stallions Alert (Arg) and Zariz had an afternoon to remember when responsible for a seven-timer at meetings staged up and down the country on Melbourne Cup Day.

Alert enjoyed a hat-trick following the successes of Alesteem, Moorings Siren and Full Beam at Kembla Grange, Moruya and Wagga Wagga respectively. Two of the three were recording their maiden success, taking the total number of winners sired by the third-crop stallion to 34 from 68 runners (50% w-t-r).

Zariz provided another example of his prolific profile when no fewer than four of his sons won on the day. Maiden winners were seen at Wagga Wagga (Diamond Vee), Muswellbrook (Zarbu) and Cairns (Zip ‘n’ Zizz), while the Darwin meeting at Fannie Bay witnessed Grey Thunder add to his winning record. The 7-year-old has now won five races and placed on another 10 occasions.

Collectively, Alert and Zariz have already been responsible for no fewer than 34 individual winners in 2012/13 with roughly another 40 weeks of the season still to be conducted.

 

NOVEMBER 1, 2012: Winners continue to flow for resident sire Zariz, the month of October proving to be another prolific period for this consistent producer and providing a snapshot of this stallion's very great worth.

Last month witnessed Zariz responsible for no fewer than 11 wins, the Canberra racetrack proving to be a very happy hunting ground in particular. On two occasions during October, Zariz supplied a double at Thoroughbred Park — Best As Zariz and Santa Fe Chief both saluting on the 10th, and Darbalara and Santa Fe Chief again doing likewise on the 26th.

Zariz actually posted an interstate treble on the second of those two dates, with Zarmarski winning on the Sunshine Coast program in Queensland. There was also another stakes placing for Zaratone in between when the brilliant sprinter finished third in the Listed City Tattersalls Lightning Handicap at the Randwick program staged on the 20th.

Zariz is well on the way to another highly productive season. The latest figures available for 2012/13 confirm that he has already been responsible for 18 individual winners since August 1, with star performers Zaratone and Riziz back on the scene after very encouraging first-up performances.

OCTOBER, 2012: Kooringal Stud's first season sire Shrapnel has passed his first major test as a sire following the initial scans taken of his early contingent of mares. Stud principal Stuart Lamont reports that the news concerning Shrapnel could hardly be any more encouraging and the exciting stallion prospect is now well on his way to a bright stud career.

“We are looking at better than 90 per cent fertility for Shrapnel,” confirmed Stuart. “He really has taken to his new job particularly well and all of the early signs could not be any more positive.”

Shrapnel’s fertility is very much in accordance with his sireline as a whole. His sire Charge Forward returned 87.8 per cent fertility in the last breeding season fully accounted for on the Australian Stud Book website, while his acclaimed grandsire Red Ransom (USA) returned 81.78 per cent fertility over 10 collective seasons serving in Australia — and he was still serving into his twenties!

A select number of lifetime nominations priced at just $9900 (inc GST) are still available in Shrapnel. His advertised service fee for 2012 is $6600 (inc GST).

AUGUST 2, 2012: The 2011/12 season proved lucrative for owners of Alert (Arg) and Zariz racing progeny qualified for the popular BOBS Scheme.

With only two crops of racing age, Alert was responsible for 26 BOBS wins that netted the connections involved a collective $111,250 in bonuses. The performance saw Alert finish in the same company as Magic Albert ($150,000), Dane Shadow ($146,250), Encosta de Lago ($142,500), Flying Spur ($125,000), Snippetson ($121,250) and Al Maher ($105,000), a group of NSW-based sires widely regarded as some of the most commercial stallions standing in Australia.

Zariz was another Kooringal Stud stallion to figure well on the BOBS Stallion Activity listing for 2011/2012. The racing stock of this seasoned campaigner earned $85,000 in bonuses from 20 eligible wins in a further illustration of the consistent stallion’s stud worth.

Generally speaking, Zariz was accredited with 59 individual winners (of 103 races) and progeny earnings of $1.6 million during the full course of the 2011/12 racing season. Alert finished the season safely in the top-10 of Second Season Sires (based on individual winners) with 26 individual winners and seasonal progeny earnings of close enough to $600,000.

In addition to the prolific nature of their progeny, both Zariz and Alert were also responsible for black-type horses in 2011/12. Zariz was represented by Zaratone (ATC Sebring S.-G3), Riziz (VRC AR Creswick S.-LR & SAJC Adelaide Gns-LR) and Izababe (2d Scone Cup-LR), while Alert’s first-crop 3-year-old filly Eyes On Guard placed in the ATC Reginald Allen Handicap (LR).

JUNE 12, 2012: Zariz’s progressive 3-year-old son Riziz recorded the second stakes victory of his flourishing career when winning the Listed VRC AR Creswick Stakes (1200m) at Flemington.

A winner over 1600-metres in black-type company at his previous outing, Riziz lined-up for the 10th start of his career in the straight-six furlong assignment. Despite carrying equal top-weight of 57.5kg and conceding some of his rivals up to 3.5kgs, the talented gelding posted a half-length victory for his fourth win to date.

Riziz is trained out of South Australia by Ken Sweeney and had landed the prestigious Adelaide Guineas (LR) at Morphettville at his previous start. Saturday’s first prize of $60,000 took the 3-year-old’s earnings to over $200,000 after winning or placing in eight of his outings.

The AR Creswick Stakes success of Riziz also illustrated the gelding’s consistency and versatility. His four career wins have now come at 1050m, 1200m (twice) and 1600m, and the latest at his sixth start since February.

Serving as another illustration of the breed’s consistency and versatility as a whole is the fact that Riziz’s Flemington success was one of three posted by the progeny of Zariz over the long weekend. The resident Kooringal Stud stallion was also represented by winners at the Sapphire Coast over 1400 metres and Kalgoorlie over 1600 metres.

MAY 7, 2012: Resident Kooringal Stud stallion Zariz continued his excellent sequence of results by supplying the winner of the Listed SAJC Adelaide Guineas (1600m) staged on the South Australian Derby program at Morphettville in Adelaide.

Sent to post the $5 third favourite of a competitive 3-year-old stakes contest, Riziz was always in contention from a very early stage of the race and loomed as the horse to beat on the home turn. And so it proved, with Riziz easily assuming control of the feature at the top of the straight before clearing out to a two-and-a-quarter length success.

Riziz has now won three of his nine career starts and took his career earnings to close on $140,000 with his Listed Race success. The Ken Sweeney-trained gelding has also placed on four occasions, his previous performance seeing him finish runner-up in the Listed SAJC HC Nitschke Stakes when only beaten a long-neck.

Riziz became the third stakes winner sired by Zariz, whose progeny also include the very recent Group 3 ATC Sebring Stakes winner Zaratone. Significantly, the offspring of Zariz have now won in black-type company at 1100, 1600 and 2500 metres.

APRIL 16, 2012: Resident Kooringal Stud sire Zariz has established himself to be one of the best value stallions standing in New South Wales by means of a proven record of performance perfectly illustrated in recent months.

On racetracks up and down the eastern seaboard of Australia since the beginning of the New Year, the offspring of the seasoned stallion have been winning with great regularity and in all forms of thoroughbred competition.

The brilliant Group-winning sprinter Zaratone has flown the flag. The Canberra-raced galloper racked-up win No. 15 at his latest outing when turning-in a blistering display of front-running to win the Group 3 ATC Sebring Stakes (1100m) on Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens.

While Zaratone took all the accolades for his outstanding stakes race success, it is worth noting that the gelding was one of three winners on the day for Zariz. The meetings staged at Roma and Tatura on the same afternoon saw the respective wins of Jack ‘n’ Me and No Prior Knowledge, giving the stallion a unique three-State hat-trick.

Surprisingly enough, three winners on the same day is not a record for Zariz. The recent interstate programs of March 24 witnessed four winners by this prolific stallion on the same afternoon of racing. Best As Zariz (Goulburn), Delabombell (Caulfield), Itzarexy (Ardelethan) and Spyriz (Atherton) all saluted the judge within the space of a few hours.

Racing programs in more recent times have also seen Zariz responsible for:-

> $25,000 Wellington Cup winner Izababe

> $50,000 Albury Flat Knacker Hcp winner Simmo

> $31,000 Armidale Cup winner Zippy Zariz

> $51,000 Orange Cup winner Micalong

> Sydney-Melbourne metropolitan winner Delabombell

The current racing season presently sees Zariz sitting on 48 individual winners from 121 runners for progeny earnings of over $1 million. His number of winners puts him on a par with the likes of Snitzel (48-103), Bradbury’s Luck (48-99) and the ill-fated Catbird (48-125), yet Zariz’s finest days at stud still are still arguably waiting ahead.