Zafonic
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| Zafonic | ||
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| Sire: | Gone West | |
| Grandsire: | Mr. Prospector | |
| Dam: | Zaizafon | |
| Damsire: | The Minstrel | |
| Sex: | Stallion | |
| Foaled: | 1990 | |
| Country: | United States | |
| Colour: | Brown/Black | |
| Breeder: | Juddmonte Farms | |
| Owner: | Khalid Abdullah | |
| Trainer: | Andre Fabre | |
| Record: | 7: 5-1-0 | |
| Earnings: | $663,984 | |
| Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards | ||
| Major Racing Wins | ||
| Prix Morny (1992) Prix de la Salamandre (1992) Dewhurst Stakes (1992) Two Thousand Guineas (1993) |
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| Racing Awards | ||
| European Champion Two-Yr-Old Colt (1992) | ||
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Infobox last updated on: February 5, 2007. |
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Zafonic (1990-2002) was a European Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Kentucky. Sired by Gone West, a grandson of Secretariat, and out of the dam Zaizafon, Zafonic's grandsire was Mr. Prospector and his damsire, The Minstrel. Owned and bred by Khalid Abdullah, the colt was conditioned by the French trainer, Andre Fabre.
Racing at age two, Zafonic went undefeated, winning three Group one races: the Prix Morny at Deauville and the Prix de la Salamandre at Longchamp in France. He then was shipped to the Newmarket Racecourse in the United Kingdom where he won the Dewhurst Stakes. His 1992 performance earned him the Cartier Racing Award as Europe's Champion Two-Year-Old Colt.
At age three, Zafonic continued to perform strongly but came up second in the Prix Djebel in France. Sent back to Newmarket for the U.K. Classic, the Two Thousand Guineas, Zafonic won by 3½ lengths while breaking a 45-year-old course record. In the Sussex Stakes, the colt burst a blood vessel and finished seventh.
His racing career over, Zafonic was sent to his owner's Banstead Manor Stud near the village of Cheveley in East Cambridgeshire. He sired more than two dozen stakes winners including Xaar, the 1997 European 2-Year-Old Champion and winner of the Dewhurst Stakes and Prix de la Salamandre as well as Count Dubois who won the 2000 Gran Criterium in Italy.
In August of 2002, Zafonic's owner leased him for the southern hemisphere covering season to Arrowfield Stud in Scone, New South Wales, Australia. Only a few days after being released from quarantine, Zafonic died on September 7, 2002 as the result of an accident at Arrowfield's paddock.
