Zoustar and Capitalist’s battle for bragging rights goes down to final day
Capitalist and Zoustar’s prolific winner-getting seasons will come down to the wire for who will be declared the country’s premier sire with meetings on Friday in NSW and Victoria likely to determine the winner.
Hunter Valley stallions Zoustar and Capitalist are locked in a battle for the Australian sires’ title by individual winners with just one day to go in the 2025/26 racing season.
Both stallions drew a blank on Thursday, leaving the pair on 169 winners for the year, three ahead of Swettenham Stud-based sire Toronado who has 166 individual winners for the racing year.
Friday’s race meetings at Wangaratta and Geelong in Victoria and Port Macquarie in NSW could swing the ledger in either stallion’s favour.
Last season’s Australian champion sire, Zoustar, a resident at Widden, has Isn’t She Gorgeous in race three at Geelong and Shezous in the opening race at Wangaratta.
Newgate’s Capitalist, meanwhile, has Miss Trump accepted in the first race at Port Macquarie and Designer Style engaged in race two at Wangaratta and El Dudar in race four at Geelong.
Regardless of who wins, or if they draw it will be the lowest total for the sire with the most winners in Australia since 2016/17.
Widden Stud’s Zoustar has sired 12 individual stakes winners in Australia this season, headlined by Chris Waller’s Cambridge Stud-owned mare Joliestar, while Capitalist has sired seven, led by King Of Roseau.
Snitzel will posthumously be crowned Australia’s champion sire by earnings for a fifth time, the same number of premierships won by Star Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
His own sire and long-time rostermate at Arrowfield, Redoute’s Choice, won three, while Danehill won a remarkable nine Australian titles.
Author
Related Articles
Member Exclusive Member Exclusive Living in the juvenile past? What will become of Australia’s two-year-old racing?
The decline of participation in Australia’s two-year-old ranks is accelerating, prompting strategic resets by some of the country’s biggest stables, and questions about whether the racing program needs to adapt to meet the new reality, writes Bren O’Brien.
Rowe On Monday – the Selangor Mile edition
Tim Rowe found himself in Malaysia this weekend for the country’s richest race, where ex-Australian horses were to the fore, the punters were back after the distractions of the World Cup, Jett Stanley was making an impression, and a tribute to a New Zealand legend was on display.
Two Australian sires titles set to go down to the wire
Home Affairs is chasing down Snitzel in the two-year-old sires standings, while Bivouac and Wootton Bassett remain locked in a tight contest for second-season sire honours.
