Zelzal

Racing Form

10 runs, four wins, three places | Best Timeform Rating: 122 | Average winning distance: 7.88f

Stakes form

AT 3: Won Prix Jean Prat, Chantilly, Gr.1, (8f. beating Stormy Antarctic (GB) and Spectre (FR)), Prix Paul de Moussac, Chantilly, Gr.3, (8f. beating Moon Trouble (IRE) and Degas (GER)), third in Qatar Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, Chantilly, Gr.1, (to Vadamos (FR)).

AT 4: Second in Prix Bertrand du Breuil Longines, Chantilly, Gr.3, (to Taareef (USA)).

ZELZAL, a Group 1-winning miler by the outstanding Sea The Stars, has impeccable stallion credentials. His sire already has a successful son at stud in the shape of Lanwades’ Deutsches Derby (G1) winner Sea The Moon, who is the sire of this season’s Group 1 Coronation Stakes winner Alpine Star, his broodmare sire is the brilliant Kingmambo and his second dam is by none other than Sadler’s Wells.

Bred by the Head family at their historic Haras du Quesnay, the bay was sold for €180,000 at Arqana’s 2014 October Yearling Sale to Al Shaqab.

Unraced as a two-year-old, trainer Jean-Claude Rouget sent him out to win his first two starts at three, over 7f and a mile. He bounced back from a troubled run in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains to win the Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac over a mile before success in the Prix Jean Prat (G1), breaking the track record held by Turtle Bowl. The final run of his three-year-old career ended with third place to Vadamos in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin.

Returning in the Prix Bertrand du Breuil (G3) at Chantilly as a four-year-old he finished second behind stable companion Taareef and fourth in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes.

Zelzal is the elder half-brother of Group 3 Prix Chloe winner Ibiza by Redoute’s Choice out of Olga Prekrasa, a winning Kingmambo daughter of Opera Aida. She is a Sadler’s Wells full-sister to True Crystal, the winning dam of Libran, winner of the Group 2 Chairman’s Handicap and second in the Group 1 Sydney Cup.

Opera Aida’s full-sister Top Crystal produced the Group 3 Minstrel Stakes winner Three Rocks to Rock Of Gibraltar, and she is also a halfsister to the Listed Cheshire Oaks third Crystal Curling.

Opera Aida’s dam is Group 3 Lancashire Oaks winner State Crystal, also third in the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) and Prix Vermeille (G1). She is a half-sister to the Fillies’ Mile (G1) winner Crystal Music, Dubai Success, winner of the Group 3 Dubai Irish Village Stakes, and to the Group 3 winner and Group 1 third Solar Crystal.

Zelzal covered a book of 76 mares in 2018. Only one of his first crop changed hands at auction, but mares in-foal to him were bought at Arqana by such as Blandford Bloodstock, Guy Petit and Kern/Lillingston.

That first book included Algtaah, a High Chaparral half-sister to this season’s 2,000 Guineas second and St James’s Palace third Wichita, who has a yearling colt by Zelzal and was due to him in the spring.

The Listed Prix Urban Sea winner Lake Palace also has a Zelzal yearling colt, as does Caramanta, a Zamindar half-sister to Grade 1 Belmont Derby second Canndal. Elision, an unraced daughter of Epic Similie, a half-sister to Ultra, foaled a colt by Zelzal in 2019.