Promising intermediate galloper Zinko steps out for his first start in six months at Pukekohe today with trainer Moira Murdoch pleased to see her charge back on the racetrack after a decent summer holiday.
The son of Shinko King was good enough to finish second on two occasions at GroupTwo level as a 3-year-old but disappointed Murdoch in his spring campaign so the decision was taken to give him a lengthy spell over the summer months while the tracks remained firm.
"Sometimes they don't come up as a 4-year-old after their 3-year-old season and I think that was evident with him as he didn't really fire in the spring last year," noted Murdoch.
"He seems to go best with the sting out of the track so we put him aside for the summer and he has had a slow build-up in preparation for a return now the tracks are starting to have some give in them.
"At his best I think he would be very competitive in a field like he strikes today but as he hasn't had a trial and we have taken it slowly with him I think he will be vulnerable and will improve immensely with the run."
Murdoch doesn't have any specific plans for Zinko, preferring to wait and see how he performs in his first few runs back before mapping out an early winter programme.
"If he showed he was back to his best form we would look at some bigger options but at this stage I prefer to take it one step at a time with him," she said.
Zinko will be Murdoch's main stable representative over the next few months as her summer team takes a break although she has a number of promising juveniles that are ready to trial as part of their preparation for future campaigns.
