‘You are lunatics buying it’: Zarastro owners’ punt pays off after leaving trainer in the dark

Zarastro is the gift that keeps on giving for his new owners … but it wasn’t all smooth sailing when they first purchased the former million-dollar colt in an online sale.

Zarastro heads to Victoria to race in the Aurie’s Star on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography

When good mates Darren Smeath and Jamie Haimes bought Zarastro online on a wing and a prayer, trainer Tony Gollan called them “lunatics.”

If they manage to win the Group 3 Aurie’s Star (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday, the 11-time champion trainer will have other words to describe them as the cash-winning machine goes from strength to strength.

Smeath and Haimes purchased the former million-dollar Coolmore colt for just $32,500, but are the first to admit they hardly did their due diligence, and certainly never canvassed the plan with trainer to be Gollan at the time.

“Gollan calls us lunatics as it is, this horse is part of the reason why,” Smeath said.

“We have this Executive Racing Group and we have always enjoyed it, but wanted to make it bigger and better.

The @tonygollan gelding Zarastro takes out race 8 in Eagle Farm! pic.twitter.com/6fmuTqndxv

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 23, 2023

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“We thought we’d look at the big studs who buy and breed these expensive horses in the hope of making them stallions as two and three-year-olds, but they don’t quite succeed.

“You are looking at Coolmore, Newgate, Yulong, Godolphin, so they are all very well bred and worth more than $1m, then they go online for sale.

“We wanted to try with the Vinnies (sire I Am Invincible) and see what we came up with, and Zarastro is the first one we got.

Jamie Kah will replace Angela Jones on Zarastro on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters — Trackside Photography.

• The jockey who gets to take home his favourite horse

“We never even consulted Tony, we had never bought a horse online.

“So we won the auction then we called Tony up and said that we had a horse for him, he asked us if we had anyone vet it, which we didn’t.

“Then he asked how we were going to pick the horse up, we had no idea.

“We read the vet report online, we didn’t speak to anyone at all about the horse, we just bought him.

“Luckily Claire (Bird), who works for Tony organised it all for us, then the horse got to Brisbane and (Gollan) called us and said ‘guys this horse has hot feet, you are lunatics buying it, you didn’t do anything and he geez he is fat like you blokes.’”

Zarastro caps a stellar day for @tonygollan and Ange Jones in winning the G3 W.J. Healy Stakes to close out Tattersall's Tiara day. pic.twitter.com/soRaKLgYlc

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 29, 2024

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Luckily it wasn’t long before Zarastro started to put his best foot forward, with the horse thriving after an extended break in the paddock.

“It was about two months later, he had a good break and then (Gollan) called us saying ‘this horse can run’.”

In what is likely to be a hit-and-run mission in Victoria, Gollan and connections are looking to strike while the iron is hot following Zarastro’s demolition in the Group 3 Healy Stakes at Eagle Farm during the carnival.

“It was kind of a throw away thought after the won the Group 3 Healy (Stakes) at Eagle Farm, Tony suggested that if he can go to Melbourne and run down the straight, it would open up a whole heap of possibilities for us in the future,” Smeath said.

“We thought we’d try it at the start of their carnival while we have a strong horse and theirs are just starting to come into their preparation.”

Zarastro is a well-supported $4.20 chance with TAB .

Originally published as ‘You are lunatics buying it’: Zarastro owners’ punt pays off after leaving trainer in the dark