Ciaron Maher and Mark Zahra have kicked off their Adelaide Racing Carnival with a bang as Growing Empire (+160) made a mess of his rivals in the Group 3 Breeders’ Stakes at Morphettville.
After jumping from barrier 10, Zahra chose to push forward and take up the lead, much like Ethan Brown did on the winner last start when he led all the way at Moonee Valley previously.
Once Zahra took the son of Zoustar to the front and settled ahead of second favourite Karavas (+340), the colt found a nice rhythm and appeared to be going along at a good clip before upping the ante around the home turn.
Upon straightening, Growing Empire wobbled to the middle of the track but quickly kicked away from his rivals and ran away with a dominant 4.5-length victory over Flattered (+850) and Flyer (+1100) who ran on from the back to finish in the placings.
2024 Breeders’ Stakes Replay – Growing Empire
Ciaron Maher was on course to speak about the win of his two-year-old colt post-race.
“I’m surprised really. He’s a very good colt but he had a few tricks that we had to iron out early in his career,” Maher said.
“It’s great to train a winner for Mr Zhang and Yulong. I think he’s a colt that’s pretty progressive and he’ll probably have a breather now and get ready for the spring and improve a lot again.
“He was a little bit immature mentally, but he’s really come along in leaps and bounds and there was no surprises there today.
“Mark does his track assessment prior to the races and thought that was the place to be.
“The horse had a bit of a look around so he might have been getting away from the winning post.”
Mark Zahra was quick to say that Growing Empire laid out and he wasn’t looking for better ground out wide in his post-race interview.
“Very impressive and very keen,” Zahra said of the winner.
“He went to the front and around the bend he was ears pricked and backed-off the tempo which suited him.
“When I asked him to let rip, he had a look at the winning post and was very soft.
“He was laying out as well, but I was happy to let him go where he was happy in the straight.”
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