Talented New Zealand-bred gelding Le Zebra (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle) turned his form around in style at Flemington on Saturday with a runaway victory in the A$150,000 VRC Member Michael Murphy Trophy (1700m).
The grey son of Rip Van Winkle showed real promise as a two-year-old, collecting victories at Sandown and Flemington in a four-start campaign last year. But his form fell away in the early stages of his three-year-old season, finishing seventh in the Gr.3 McNeil Stakes (1200m), 15th in the Listed Exford Plate (1400m), eighth in a 1400m handicap at Flemington and 10th in a 1600m handicap at the same venue.
A close last-start fourth in the Silver Bowl Series Final (1600m) on July 6 hinted at a turnaround for Le Zebra, and on Saturday he was right back on top of his game.
Ridden by Damian Lane for expat Kiwi trainers Emma-Lee and David Browne, Le Zebra was awkwardly drawn in gate 12 among a 14-horse field. But Lane pressed forward in the early stages of the race and was able to easily slot into a perfect position one out and one back.
It was smooth sailing from there, and when Lane released the brakes in the home straight, Le Zebra bounded to the lead and raced away to win by five lengths with his ears pricked.
“Emma-Lee and David have done a great job,” Lane said. “I trialled him early in the preparation and his performance was only fair, and then he raced accordingly. They’ve done really well to turn him around in this preparation and get him winning like that here at Flemington today.
“The race worked out really well. Being drawn wide, I thought there was no sense in dropping all the way back. I chanced the arm and tried to get in, and fortunately that eventuated. I was very confident from there. He was always travelling comfortably and I knew I could get into the race when I wanted to. He finished it off really strongly.”
Le Zebra has now had 10 starts for three wins and a placing, earning A$286,000 for a big group of owners. An enthusiastic contingent of them were on course at Flemington on Saturday, some wearing large zebra heads.
“We’ve got a brilliant ownership group involved with this horse,” Emma-Lee Browne said. “They’ve had to be very, very patient and they’ve stuck it out through some ups and downs. It’s just fantastic to see the horse back doing what he should be doing.
“David rides him every day and has done a huge amount of work to try to get him to settle better and do things right. It’s been a real team effort.
“Damian gave him a beautiful ride to get into that spot, and he won very well. We’re over the moon.
“We’ll just take him home now and look after him, and hopefully we can keep him going into the spring.”
Le Zebra is out of the My Halo mare Angel Del Dinero (NZ), who herself was a winner and finished second in the Gr.3 Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) at Trentham.
Le Zebra is the fourth winner from five foals to race out of Angel Del Dinero, who is also the dam of the Brownes’ four-race winner Bifrost (NZ), a son of Turn Me Loose. The Brownes bought Bifrost for $40,000 at Karaka 2020, followed by the $60,000 purchase of his half-brother Le Zebra two years later from the draft of Windsor Park Stud.
Adding to their investment in the family, the Brownes secured Angel Del Dinero for $26,000 in an online auction on gavelhouse.com.