By Sean Cronin
Victorious Forever's Simon and Ed Crisford trainee Zanthos (Sioux Nation), a €1-million Arqana Breeze-Up sale graduate, attained TDN Rising Star status in the colours of KHK Racing at Newmarket's July course in August and rebounded off a second behind Touleen (Lope De Vega) earlier in the month to make all for a career high in Friday's G2 BoyleSports Home Of Early Payout Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket.
“We just said to Oisin [Murphy] to keep her happy and let her use her stride,” explained Ed Crisford. “I thought she was maybe doing a bit too much in the early part, but she was travelling so well. I was a bit nervous the last half-furlong, but she stuck on well and she's a classy filly. We didn't realise the pace was going to be that slow [at Leicester last time], we'd tried to do something different and it turned into a two-furlong sprint. Whether that suited Touleen that day I'm not sure, but we put our filly behind and she was doing too much. Oisin told us to put a line through the race and to move on, so we were confident we were going to run well today, but maybe not beat the Leicester winner. She's obviously a very talented filly with a lot of ability and hopefully she can turn into a proper filly.”
Looking ahead, Crisford added, “We always felt she'd definitely stay a mile, but today it looked like she was tying up coming up the hill. The sensible thing is probably to put her away [for the season] and bring her back for a [G3] Fred Darling or a [G3] Nell Gwyn in the spring and see where we go from there. We always felt she would stay a mile, the riders at home felt she would stay a mile and Oisin feels she could stay a mile. She's a good quality filly and an exciting filly for next year.”
Breaking smartly and racing in isolation with a clear advantage underneath the stands' side rail until well beyond halfway, the 15-2 chance was never seriously threatened and maintained a high tempo in the closing stages to withstand the late threat of The Prettiest Star (Starman) by a half-length for a black-type breakthrough.
Pedigree Notes
Zanthos, a half-sister to the dual stakes-placed Bakhchisaray (Motivator), is the latest of six reported foals and one of four scorers from as many runners produced by the dual stakes-placed Brioniya (Pivotal), herself a half-sister to G2 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes victrix Beshaayor (Iffraaj) and to the dam of stakes-winning G2 Mill Reef Stakes runner-up La Bellota (Mehmas). The May-foaled chestnut's second dam, the multiple Group-placed Listed Pipalong Stakes and Listed Bosra Sham Fillies' Stakes victrix Bahia Breeze (Mister Baileys), is a half-sister to the dams of G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte victrix Classic Flower (Calyx) and the dual stakes-placed duo Rock On Baileys (Rock Of Gibraltar) and Orchid Bloom (Farhh).
Zanthos makes most to land the G2 @BoyleSports Home Of Early Payout Rockfel Stakes 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xsSgkbm8Nl
— Newmarket Racecourse (@NewmarketRace) September 26, 2025
Friday, Newmarket, Britain
BOYLESPORTS HOME OF EARLY PAYOUT ROCKFEL STAKES-G2, £100,000, Newmarket, 9-26, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:24.19, g/f.
1–ZANTHOS (FR), 128, f, 2, by Sioux Nation
1st Dam: Brioniya (GB) (MSP-Fr), by Pivotal (GB)
2nd Dam: Bahia Breeze (GB), by Mister Baileys (GB)
3rd Dam: Ring of Love (GB), by Magic Ring (Ire)
TDN Rising Star. 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (€48,000 Ylg '24 ARAV2; €1,000,000 2yo '25 ARQBRU). O-Victorious Forever; B-Viktor Timoshenko & Andriy Milovanov; T-Simon & Ed Crisford; J-Oisin Murphy. £56,710. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $106,494. *1/2 to Bakhchisaray (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), MSP-Fr, $197,930. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–The Prettiest Star (GB), 128, f, 2, Starman (GB)–Ediyva (Ire), by Kingman (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O-David Ward; B-Northern Star Bloodstock Ltd; T-Ed Walker. £21,500.
3–Moon Target (GB), 128, f, 2, Cracksman (GB)–Lunar Corona (GB), by Dansili (GB). O/B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd; T-Sir Mark Prescott. £10,760.
Margins: HF, 3, NK. Odds: 7.50, 12.00, 5.00.
Also Ran: Awaken (Ire), Touleen (GB), Nandita (Ire), Samra Green (Ire), Mandarin Spirit (Ire), Sukanya (GB), Ice Sovereigns (Ire).
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