Zoustyle begins Doomben 10,000 climb in winter carnival appetiser

He’s been from Brisbane to Melbourne, to Sydney and back to Brisbane again, but Tony Gollan believes Zoustyle is the horse to beat in a red-hot Ascot Handicap (1000m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

While many of Queensland’s best sprinters are kicking off their winter campaigns, Gollan said Zoustyle has the miles in the legs after mixing it with some of Australia’s best during a brief autumn carnival at Group 1 level.

The champion trainer will saddle up Zoustyle ($5), Sneaky Five ($8.50) and Garibaldi ($8.50) in the race and says despite drawing barrier 15 of 15, Zoustyle will have the speed to burn across.

With preferred jockey Ryan Maloney suspended, Gollan has called on Brodie Loy to take the reins in the showdown against the likes of Rothfire, Startantes, Soxagon and Alpine Edge.

“He is the best (of the three), the others are a bit like a lot of the horses in the race, they have different targets and they are not out and out guns at the 1000m,” Gollan said.

“(Sneaky Five) will run really well because she has won at the track before, Garibaldi is just a really good horse now but I don’t love where he has drawn.

“He will run well, but there are better races for him and I am hopeful to take him to the 10,000 as well and then something like the Moreton Cup.”

Zoustyle ran third in the race last year, before going into the Group 1 Doomben 10,000, which was ironically run at Eagle Farm due to weather conditions.

Gollan says his sprinter would be a handful back at Doomben in the Group 1 clash in a month’s time.

“He ran well in this race going nowhere near as well as what he is going at the moment,” he said. “I have always wanted to run him in the (Doomben) 10,000, I am hoping from here I can go to that race, this is the run I want to go before there.

“There are a lot of horses in this race using it as a launching pad for other races. This has a real winter carnival feel to it because you have the horses of Rob’s (Heathcote) that are Group 1 winners (Rothfire and Startantes) that haven’t done anything since the spring, there are no other lead ups.

“He has them in at handicap conditions which favours a few of the others, it is a really deep race.”

Bookies rate Heathcote’s duo of Rothfire ($5.50) and Prince Of Boom ($5) as Zoustyle’s biggest dangers.