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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Annabel Neasham is in two minds about where warhorse Zaaki will kick off his spring campaign but Group 1 winning mare Sunshine In Paris is preparing for an Everest audition in next month’s Sheraco Stakes.

The duo are set to trial this Friday but Neasham took the opportunity to gallop them together between races at Rosehill with nine-year-old Zaaki just having the edge over his younger companion.

The Neasham charges worked early in the day while the Chris Waller-trained Zougotcha galloped solo after race four.

“I was looking for nice surface because the training tracks are a bit wintry at the moment so that’s why I brought them here,’’ Neasham said.

“They’re both Group 1 horses and good over 1400m. Zaaki is just very fresh and hopefully that knocks the edge off him.”

Zaaki has won the past two editions of the Group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) and that’s shaping as his likely return but Neasham said the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m) in two weeks is tempting.

“I want him firing at the end of the prep, he’s an older horse and we’ll pick and choose where we go with him,’’ she said.

“He’s like Peter Pan, he doesn’t seem to be getting any older.”

Sunshine In Paris, who won the Group 1 Surround Stakes earlier this year, will be given her chance to earn an Everest slot when she resumes and Neasham said the four-year-old is coming along slowly.

👀WATCH: @ANeashamRacing Group 1 stars Sunshine In Paris (Ryan Maloney, pink cap) and Zaaki (@mcacajamez) gallop between races at Rosehill Gardens ahead of their spring campaigns. @tabcomau pic.twitter.com/Hv3zUGqFbm

— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) August 5, 2023

The Group 2 Sheraco Stakes (1200m) is her kick off point.

“She’s probably, race day, a bit sharper than (Zaaki) but she’s five weeks off running in the Sheraco and it is a long way off,’’ she said.

“If she wins that it would put her in the Everest picture.”

The pair galloped over 800m, with Zaaki noticeably fresh as they were warming up, in 47.80 seconds.

In about two weeks, Chris Waller will have a clearer picture of what Group 1 winning mare Zougotcha’s spring program will look like.

An interrupted autumn campaign left Waller none the wiser about the four-year-old’s sprinting prowess so he’s earmarked the Group 3 Toy Show Quality (1100m) at Randwick on August 19 as an opportunity to shape her carnival.

Zougotcha won the Phar Lap Stakes over the Golden Eagle course in March and finished midfield in the Doncaster Mile. The $10 million Golden Eagle is an obvious target but a sharp fresh performance could put her on the radar of slot holders for the $20m TAB Everest.

“I’d rather find out earlier in the spring and concentrate on something,’’ Waller said.

“I want to work out whether she’s a genuine sprinter or whether she’s a miler. She won the Flight Stakes over a mile, she missed her first-up run last prep because she had a temperature.

“So we never learned how effective she was over 1200m.”

James McDonald put Zougotcha through her paces with a 1000m gallop between races at Rosehill and Waller said it was a decent piece of work two weeks out from resuming.

She clocked 1:03.85 for the gallop with a last 600m of 36.65.

“We asked her to do something, we opened her up the last 300m,’’ Waller said.

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