Zoffany Stayer Wins Newcastle Gold Cup

French bred Zoffany gelding Carzoff (Fr) gave champion trainer Chris Waller another feature race win when taking out the $200,000 Group III Newcastle Cup on Friday.

A progressive gelding working his way through the grades, Carzoff (image Steve Hart) was a last start winner of the Wyong Cup and kept up the good work here. He scored a tenacious long neck win in the 2300 metre staying test as favourite.

"He's in a really good space the horse," said winning rider Kerrin McEvoy.

"He's loving travelling around there on the bridle and being the last one off the bridle and getting the splits just fills him with confidence.

"He's showed that his last couple of runs so it was pleasing to see him do that today over an extra furlong."

Bought from Europe as a tried horse, Carzoff runs for a big group of stable clients and carries the colours of part-owner Nick Vass.

He has won five races and placed eight times from 23 starts earning over $464,000 in prizemoney.

Stable representative Liam Prior confirmed the Group I ATC Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick later this month was Carzoff's likely target.

"I was quite impressed with that at 2300 which he hasn't done before," Prior said.

"I don't know what the boss is thinking but I suppose the Metropolitan Handicap lines up now in a fortnight and that's probably where he deserves to be heading."

Carzoff is by Dansili stallion Zoffany (IRE), who shuttled to Coolmore for four seasons covering 213 mares in his last year 2015, so has a big crop of two year-olds to run here this season.

Zoffany has hit a real purple patch in the Northern Hemisphere with his current crop of two year-olds that has already produced five stakes-winners headed by Group II winner Fleeting and Group III winner Main Edition.

Carzoff is the best of two winners from Mark of Esteem mare Cartama, who comes from the family of highly successful Kiwi based sire Pentire (GB).