Trainer Andrew Molloy has described Zarhron’s fourth straight Japan Cowra Cup (1200m) victory on Sunday as “unbelievable”, the star sprinter overcoming a huge weight disadvantage to blow his rivals away on his home track.
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Zarhron led from start to finish with apprentice jockey Chris Williams onboard, the race going exactly to “script” as he gathered momentum around the bend, skipped to a two-and-half length lead and held on to win by one-length from a fast finishing Ultima Chance, trained by Keith Dryden and Scott Collings.
Molloy heaped praise on Zarhron post-race, but also gave credit to Williams, who steered the eight-year-old gelding to last year’s triumph.
“It was awesome. It was unbelievable. The weight didn’t even seem to come into it. He just pedaled out from the gates, got a good breather at the 500m and built momentum from there. That was the script and it went exactly to plan,” Andrew Molloy said.
“It looked like an easy ride but it was a hard ride to do and he [Williams] achieved it. It was a really good ride. Every year they say it’s a great ride and the jockey gets all the credit. At the end of the day the horse has won four straight with three different riders so I think the horse has to take a lot of the credit. But I’d say that ride was more difficult than it looked.”
Zarhron was given 65kgs by the handicapper on Wednesday afternoon, which led the Molloy Racing team to consider whether or not it would be worth accepting for the $26,000 race.
The lure of a fourth straight Japan Cowra Cup, though, led the team to accept the nomination.
Williams’ two kilograms claim meant Zarhron lugged 63kgs, five kilograms more than Ultima Chance.
“As soon he left the gates cleanly and got one length clear, I was watching with my sister, obviously the confidence grew. He was in good space and he was carrying the weight a lot easier,” Molloy said.
“We didn’t think he’d be here this year. We thought he’d get weighted out of it. The small field allowed us to do it though. We definitely don’t get to do it next year.”
Zarhron’s campaign will likely continue during February with the focus now solely on a city win.
“Our aim is to get a city victory next to his name, that’s our main focus with Zarhron now,” Molloy said.
The victory was Zarhron’s 13th from 32 career starts.
Molloy said it was the biggest thrill for his team in a long time.
“It’s really good for everyone involved. There’s a lot of people that help out and are behind the scenes who got a kick out of it. That’s probably the biggest kick I’ve seen everyone get out of a winner,” Molloy said.
