Zarica etched her name in French racing history at Marseille Pont de Vivaux the evening of Dec. 19 when recording a 12th success for 2023.
In doing so, she broke the record for wins in a calendar year dating back to Alips, a 3-year-old filly who struck 11 times in 1996 for three different trainers in Stephane Wattel, Pascal Bary, and Nicolas Clement.
By contrast, Zarica is 9 years old and clocked up all 17 runs this year for trainer Julien Phelippon, who admitted he thought the chance to beat the record had passed when she came back a sick horse from an eighth-place finish at Clairefontaine in October.
“It looked a tall order after that to be able to have another crack at the record,” said Phelippon, who took a break from training for 18 months in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and sent out Zarica to be his first winner after taking his license back out in September 2022.
“However, through November, she still seemed to have a lot of life in her and seemed like she was regaining her form, so we started to prepare her for this race. There was additional pressure because she ran poorly the previous time and there was no time to run her back again before the end of the year.
“It would have been a shame to miss the record, although she has already given us so much this year, you have to be happy.”
Exploit réalisé par Zarica ce mardi 19 décembre à Vivaux 🤩
🐎 La jument de 9 ans entraînée par @JulienPhelippon remporte sa 1⃣2⃣ème course de l’année, synonyme de record sur une saison. Elle était confiée à @trullierthomas, son fidèle partenaire. pic.twitter.com/v9qattdlHU
— Equidia (@equidia) December 20, 2023
Of Tuesday’s victory, Phelippon added: “All through the race, she looked the winner, so it was an easy watch.
“But once she had passed the post, I was back under pressure because I needed to defend her against being claimed. If we’d lost her to another trainer, that would have spoiled the party somewhat. Once the claiming was out of the way, I could relax and enjoy the achievement.”
Phelippon has plotted his way through the program book, skillfully using claiming handicaps and a combination of jockeys he could claim off when necessary, and all the while only rising 9lb in the handicap.
During the autumn race for the record both Mickael Barzalona and Ronan Thomas contributed one victory each, before Zarica’s regular pilot, Thomas Trullier, guided her to the magic 12th win, their sixth success of the season in tandem.
“Above all, I come from a background of punting, and I’ve spent a lot of time watching how different trainers use the program book, and I have tried to emulate the ones who have inspired me,” said Phelippon.
“The best thing about the story is that I am sure I have trained better horses than her during my career in terms of pure class. But she is a mare who has got better through winning races. A lot of horses grow weary through the effort of racing but the more she won, the more she wanted to go out and do it again.
“It’s quite incredible and certainly the first time I’ve sensed that with one of my horses.”
