June 4, 2025 - Nottingham, Race 2, EUR €6,899, 5f 8yT, Maiden
Dam: Atlantic Drift (GB) , by Oasis Dream (GB)
Owner: Wathnan Racing
Breeder: Newsells Park Stud
Trainer: Karl Burke
Tuesday's PricedUp Pushes EBF Maiden Fillies' Stakes went the way of subsequent G2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Leovanni (Kodi Bear) last term and that Karl Burke trainee's year-younger stablemate Zelaina (Mehmas) will also attempt to double up at Royal Ascot after delivering a performance of raw power in the latest renewal of Nottingham's five-furlong dash. Going some way along the road to justifying her £650,000 price tag at the recent Goffs UK Breeze-Up sale, she heads to Berkshire with a TDN Rising Star rosette in the bag after securing a third straight victory for Burke, who also struck here with subsequent Queen Mary third Beautiful Diamond (Twilight Son) in 2023.
Zelaina broke sharply from the stands' side stall and seized an immediate lead in this debut. On cruise control in front for the most part, the even-money favourite was shaken up passing the furlong marker and extended clear in style to easily outpoint Secret Oath (Lope De Vega), hitting the line powerfully with an impressive 2 3/4-length buffer back to that €550,000 Goffs Orby yearling. Zelaina, who was originally knocked down as a £82,000 Goffs UK Premier yearling, becomes the third juvenile Rising Star this year, and fifth overall, for her sire and joins Godolphin's Maximized and Wise Approach on the roll of honour.
“She'd been doing the right things at home, but Karl [Burke] had had to give her an easy time leading into this so we were worried about fitness,” explained rider James Doyle. “She's shown at the breeze and at home that she's got an engine and she caught me by surprise out of the gates. She must have got a few lengths, got up into that stride and away she went. She's quite hot, so we'll do a few little things to iron that out going into [Royal] Ascot. You'd love to get a lead, but when they have that much pace it is hard to do that. She had a blow and I'd expect her to come on for the experience. It will be the [G2] Queen Mary I'd guess and I suppose she was a bit more impressive than Leovanni.”
Zelaina was forced into a period on the sidelines in the weeks leading up to this debut and Burke added, “She's very quick and if it wasn't for the little setback I'd have been very disappointed with anything other than a win. She just likes to get on with things and she'll come on for that. If we can get her to Ascot in that form I think we can all be very happy.”
Zelaina was sourced at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale by Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown, who commented, “It was the first day at school and she hasn't had the most perfect prep in the build-up to the race – nothing serious, she just banged a knee and had to miss a bit of time so there's plenty of improvement to come, which is the exciting thing. It looked a very hot race on paper and she was just very professional and obviously has a huge amount of pace. All credit to Mick Fitzpatrick [of Kilminfoyle House Stud] who has sold a lot of very good horses and is a very good friend of mine and told me all about her. That's always in the back of your mind but they've got to go and do it. I've got a similar relationship with a few consignors and they tell you they like them but, if you bought every horse at the breeze-up sales that the consignors liked, you'd be in trouble!”
He added, “At the end of the day, it's my job to present horses to Olly Tait and it's his job to present them to the powers that be in Qatar. They are the ones that make the decisions and, luckily, they were happy to buy this filly. I am absolutely delighted for everyone at Wathnan, but also everyone at Blandford. It's a huge team effort and we work the breeze-up sales very hard together. It's a huge combined effort and I'm just the lucky guy waving the catalogue. Between Tom Biggs, Tom Goff, Stuart Boman and Katie Richards, they all work extremely hard. Every one of us was absolutely napping this filly”
“You feel massive pressure because, the way the breeze-up market is going, you have to spend a lot of somebody else's money [to find the right horses] so you definitely feel the pressure. With yearlings, you can live the dream for a year without them running but, with a breeze-up horse, you know your fate within four weeks so it's quite intense. There's more pressure because there's such a quick turnaround.”
Zelaina is the sixth of seven foals and third scorer produced by an unraced half-sister to four black-type performers headed by G1 Sussex Stakes-winning sire Lightning Spear (Pivotal). Zelaina's multiple-stakes-winning second dam Atlantic Destiny (Royal Academy) is a half-sister to multiple Group-winning G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup third Make No Mistake (Darshaan). The April-foaled bay is a half-sister to G2 Railway Stakes and G3 Marble Hill Stakes placegetter Arctician (Dark Angel) and a yearling filly by Teofilo.
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