A half-brother to Group I winning sprinter Bella Vella, three year-old Zousain gelding Zourain broke the ice at Moonee Valley on Friday might with a tenacious win.
Trained by Robbie Griffiths and Matt de Kock, Zourain was overdue for a win having been second, fourth and third at his three previous starts and Zac Spain took luck out of the equation when sending him forward.
Zourain kicked away and had enough left to hang on and win the 1523m maiden by a long neck and is the last winner for the training partnership with de Kock set to head back to his home country of South Africa to continue training.
Zourain was a $160,000 Magic Millions purchase for Griffiths de Kock Racing/Peter Ford Thoroughbreds from the Robyn Wise draft and was a successful pinhook having been sourced from Coolmore at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale for $80,000.
Bred by Fionnuala Timoney of Calvados Bloodstock, Zourain is the fourth winner from Forget the Weather (USA), who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Zourain is the 14th winner this season for Zousain, who has 21 yearlings for both Magic Millions and Inglis Classic.
