Bob Hannon has bred some outstanding horses including Cox Plate hero Shamus Award and Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Shaquero with a filly he passed in at Inglis Classic last year a Breednet ‘One to Watch’ when winning her maiden and now a metropolitan winner after saluting at Gosford on Wednesday.
An eye-catching winner at Muswellbrook on September 2, the Kris Lees trained Zetarita stepped straight from maiden class to Benchmark 68 against some promising colts and filles and emerged triumphant.
Zetarita tracked the leader, then powered to the front turning for home and kept up a good gallop to the line to win by half length and has the smart record of two wins and a second from three starts.
Another promising filly by Capitalist, Zetarita is the first foal of Group III winner Onemorezeta, who was also bred and retained to race by Mr Hannon after passing in at Inglis Classic. She went on to win over $320,000 in prizemoney with a highlight win in the Group III VRC Gucci Stakes and a fourth in the Group I Tatts Tiara.
Onemorezeta is a half-sister by Onemorenomore to Group II winner Cosmic Force, who was also bred and sold by Mr Hannon and is now covering his first book of mares at NewgateFarm.
The second foal from Onemorezeta is a Merchant Navy colt that was sold by Mr Hannon’s Ascot Park at Inglis Classic this year to Annabel Neasham Racing / Brian McGuire for $150,000 and has been named Dirty Merchant.
He had his first barrier trial at Randwick on Monday finishing a good third.
Onemorezeta has a Deep Field yearling colt to follow and is back in foal to Deep Field, who is the sire of Cosmic Force.
Capitalist also sired consistent filly Funny Money to win at Doomben, while Winning Rupert also got into the winner’s circle at Doomben with the Star Thoroughbreds owned filly Merimee.
Trained by Chris Waller, Merimee made it back to back wins in Brisbane when scoring by a length and a half.