Promising colt Zaidan put the finishing touches on a marvellous meeting for trainer John Moore and stable jockey Darren Beadman at Sha Tin on Monday.
After claiming the G1 Champions Mile with Xtension, the pair teamed up to win the Berlin Handicap with the British bred son of Street Cry.
Zaidan (3c Street Cry – Element Of Truth by Atticus) was racing second-up and Moore. The Australian born trainer had no hesitation in nominating him as one of the rising stars of the stable and will groom him as a Hong Kong Derby prospect.
The Street Cry colt looked a world-beater when he won the Listed Chesham Stakes on his ear at Royal Ascot for trainer Clive Brittain. He disappointed in his two final UK starts, after which he was sold to Hong Kong interests.
Zaidan is by Darley’s champion sire from a Newmarket winning half-sister to Irish G3 winner Ramooz (Rambo Dancer). He was a $200,000 buy for Saeed Manana at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Manana sold the colt to Cheung Keung late last year in a deal brokered by Alastair Donald of Kern Lillingston. “He is one of the best two-year-olds we’ve bought for Hong Kong,” Donald said after clinching the deal. “He’s a firm ground horse and didn’t really handle the easier going on his final two runs in England. But he looked the real deal at Royal Ascot.”
Brittain had a Kentucky Derby program mapped out for Zaidan before the sale to Hong Kong.