By Tom Frary
In a fairytale ending to one of the key stallion-making races of the season, the judge's photo showed the 35,000gns Without Parole colt Zavateri in front of the 450,000gns buy Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) at the culmination of Sunday's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at The Curragh. Having been 18-1 when swooping in Newmarket's G2 July Stakes and 8-1 when following up in Goodwood's G2 Vintage Stakes, Mick and Janice Mariscotti's Tattersalls October Book 2 bargain was 15-2 this time as Charles Bishop waited patiently for his effort in rear.
Showing his now-customary sharp acceleration to enter the fray, he looked to have put Ballydoyle's 10-11 favourite away at the furlong pole but was soon embroiled in a ding-dong tussle and had to be tough to prevail. At the line, there was a head separating the colts who started out at the two ends of the commercial spectrum, with Italy (Wootton Bassett) 2 1/2 lengths away in third.
“They've not been coming off the pace today and he was a long way back, but we said before it was up to Charlie–there was no plan and no pressure,” a relieved Eve Johnson Houghton said after learning that the stewards' inquiry into a late bump between the front pair had been resolved with no change to the outcome. “He's improving and improving and it'll be straight to the Dewhurst now. He wants further and as he matures he'll definitely want a mile.”
“I don't train him, he trains me,” she added. “We were coming into Aidan's backyard, but this was the right spot time-wise for him. That was pretty impressive I'd say–he's never been on this ground before, he's not travelled away overnight before but he's taken it all in his stride. The trickiest part was saddling him. That was the most exciting part for us!”
Bishop added, “We thought it would be tactical and to be fair it worked out easy enough. I followed Christophe [Soumillon], I had to come out sooner than I would have liked and Gstaad was very tough but this lad never knows when he is beaten.”
wins the National Stakes!
One heck of a result for Eve Johnson Houghton and Charlie Bishop ⭐️⭐️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/JVlCSaG76p
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 14, 2025
Pedigree Notes
Zavateri, who was breaking ground for his second-crop sire as his first Group 1 winner, is the first foal out of the unraced Zeroua (Siyouni), who was bought by Avenue Bloodstock for €90,000 out of the Aga Khan Studs draft at the 2021 Arqana December auction. Her dam was the similarly-unraced Zerkaza (Dalakhani), a daughter of the revered peerless champion Zarkava who produced one Stakes performer in Sea The Stars' dual Australian Group 3 winner Zeyrek.
Having broken ground as the brilliant Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Prix de Diane and Arc heroine, Zarkava provided the operation with Dubawi's Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud-winning sire Zarak and the Prix Vermeille-placed Zarkamiya by Without Parole's sire Frankel. She is in turn the dam of this year's promoted Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner and Coronation Stakes runner-up Zarigana by Zeroua's sire Siyouni. Zeroua's yearling filly by Ghaiyyath is catalogued in the upcoming Tattersalls October Book 1, while she also has a colt foal by Baaeed.
Sunday, Curragh, Ireland
GOFFS VINCENT O'BRIEN NATIONAL STAKES-G1, €400,000, Curragh, 9-14, 2yo, 7fT, 1:26.73, yl.
1–ZAVATERI (IRE), 131, c, 2, by Without Parole (GB)
1st Dam: Zeroua (Fr), by Siyouni (Fr)
2nd Dam: Zerkaza (Ire), by Dalakhani (Ire)
3rd Dam: Zarkava (Ire), by Zamindar
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (35,000gns Ylg '24 TATOCT). O-Mick & Janice Mariscotti; B-John D Gunther & TTR Bloodstock; T-Eve Johnson Houghton; J-Charles Bishop. €240,000. Lifetime Record: 4-4-0-0, $498,539. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gstaad (GB), 131, c, 2, Starspangledbanner (Aus)–Mosa Mine (GB), by Exceed And Excel (Aus). (450,000gns Wlg '23 TADEWE). O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Maywood Stud; T-Aidan O'Brien. €80,000.
3–Italy (GB), 131, c, 2, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Bound (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). TDN Rising Star. 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (200,000gns Ylg '24 TATOCT). O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Peter M Brant & Westerberg; B-Lordship Stud; T-Aidan O'Brien. €40,000.
Margins: HD, 2HF, 5HF. Odds: 7.50, 0.91, 3.50.
Also Ran: Dorset (Ire), North Coast (Ire), Saba Desert (GB).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
