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First foal born at Godolphin in 2020 to step out in early 2YO feature
Nature dictates that Zulfiqar should be one of Godolphin's most forward two-year-olds so it should not surprise that he will make his debut in one of the first two-year-old races of the season
The son of Exceed And Excel will be one of two representatives for James Cummings in Saturday's $175,000 Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (1000m) at Flemington.
The bay colt was the first of hundreds of foals born at Godolphin in the spring of 2020 and has earned his spot through good jumpouts and a professionalism attitude.
"He was foal No.1 from his year and as the colt with the No.1 brand on his shoulder he should have a bit more strength about him," Cummings said of the colt who was born on Jul 31.
"We like the way he's going and if he can bring that professionalism he's shown in his preliminaries, then I think he's going to run a very good race."
Out of the American mare Sayf Shamal, Zulfiqar finished a five-length third behind Don Corleone and Physical Graffiti in one of the faster trials of the morning at Randwick on September 19.
He was also an acceptor for the $200,000 Group 3 Breeders' Plate (1000m) at Randwick and while James Cummings' preference was to run him in that race and leave the Flemington event to Pantelone, his hand was forced by the weather.
"I liked the idea of running that horse in the Breeders' Plate but I was gun-shy about putting him on a really wet track on debut," Cummings said.
"We've ended up with two runners in the Maribyrnong Trial, but at least both are going to see a decent track."
Panteleone, a colt by Street Boss out of the Lonhro mare Colombina, has carried out his preparations in Melbourne and finished second in an 800m straight-track jumpout on September 22 with Damien Oliver in the saddle.
"He's got a bit of pace about him. He went nicely in a recent jump-out up the straight at Flemington," Cummings said.
"Damien Oliver thought he'd be competitive in this race and we identified that he's trained on since then. I think he's capable of running well."
Oliver will ride Panteleone, who will start from barrier one in the field of nine, with Zulfiqar to jump from the second-widest alley with Ben Melham aboard.
