Tough stayer Zacada has bounced back from a disappointing Sydney carnival to win the Group Three Rotorua Cup and bring up a century of winners this season for New Zealand's premier stable.
Runner-up in the 2018 Sydney Cup, the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Zacada carried 60kg in Saturday's win over Gobstopper in the 2200m-race.
“Whatever went on in Australia, I don't know whether the Cup company was just too stiff, or he didn't cop some of those holding tracks he ran into,” Forsman told NZ Racing Desk.
“He's got through it today and looked the winner a long way out.
“He was the class horse of the field on his day and I don't think the weight was going to be an issue. It was just where his head was at and if he was on his game, then he was going to be hard to beat.
“His two gallops this week have been first-class, and we were confident in that just knowing that he had to bring his A-game to the races.”
As well as bringing up the century for the Baker and Forsman partnership, Zacada gave the stable a New Zealand season record 23 black-type winners.