A persuasive piece of track-work by Zac De Boss (NZ) (Zacinto) convinced trainer Simon Zahra that it was worthwhile for the three-year-old gelding to take on the older horses at Caulfield on Saturday.

That judgement proved to be spot on as Zac De Boss took his record to two wins from two starts when he took out the Benchmark 64 over 1400 metres.

Zahra, who trains in partnership with Mathew Ellerton, said that although Zac De Boss won he still had a lot to learn and did a bit wrong.

Zahra said although the son of Zacinto was undefeated they won’t be in a hurry to push him up in class.

“He’s a big horse with a few immaturity problems but we’ll find another three-year-old race around this distance and try and cash in and get some prizemoney,” he said.

His jockey Damien Thornton said that Zac De Boss was a horse on the up.

“Last prep he didn’t show much at all but this time he has come back a different horse,” Thornton said.

“I thought I was on the best horse in the race but he was probably the most immature out of all of them. He just had to overcome that and he coped with the occasion pretty well, I think,” he said.

Bred by Kevin Hickman, Zac de Boss was purchased by First Light Racing in partnership with Paul Willetts, Ellerton and Zahra out of Valachi Downs’ 2019 New Zealand Book 1 draft for $60,000.