Zavateri team full of hope heading into Dewhurst showdown

Zavateri is firing on all cylinders ahead of his bid to cap a fairytale season with success in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.

The chestnut colt has a flawless record of four runs and four wins, scoring a hat-trick of Group-race events when taking the July Stakes, the Vintage Stakes and then the top-level National Stakes at the Curragh.

The latter run was a seriously tough performance against Aidan O’Brien’s highly-regarded Gstaad, who Zavateri will meet again on the undulating track at the Rowley Mile.

“He’s great, he’s been working really, really well and we’re going there full of hope,” Johnson Houghton said.

“He obviously hasn’t run at the track before, but he handled the July course and he handled Goodwood, so we’ve got every reason to believe that he’ll handle this.

“It will take a good horse to beat him, and if they’re better than him then so be it, but they will have to be very good.

“He has been a dream this year, and to win this would really be the icing on the cake.”