Zanjero sold to Turkish interests

Multiple Grade 2 winner Zanjero has been sold to Turkish owner/breeder Serdar Kemal Ozcolak and will stand in 2014 at the Jockey Club of Turkey’s Karacabey National Stud in Bursa for an advertised fee of $2,954 (6,000 Turkish Lira), BloodHorse reports.

The 9-year-old son of Cherokee Run previously stood at Millennium Farms in Lexington, Ky., where he retired for the 2009 breeding season. His first foals to race are 3-year-olds of 2013, and his top runners include stakes winner Johnny Handsome and stakes-placed runners R S Watson and Bleu Moon Magic.

Zanjero is currently under a 30-day quarantine at trainer Murat Sancal’s Elmedorf Farm near Lexington, and is scheduled to ship to Turkey on Jan. 13.

Zanjero was a winner of six of 18 starts during his racing career for earnings of $1,620,786, racing for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen. His most notable wins came in the Grade 2 Indiana Derby and Kentucky Cup Classic, as well as the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby.

Zanjero finished in the money in 10 graded stakes races during his three-season career and ran in the 2007 Kentucky Derby.

Bred in Kentucky by Tony Holmes and Walter Zent, Zanjero is out of the unraced A.P. Indy mare Checkered Flag, whose four winners from five foals to race include Grade 2-placed multiple stakes winner Victory Lap and Grade 2-placed Acacia.

Zanjero will join U.S.-bred Grade 1 winner After Market in relocating to Turkey for the 2014 breeding season. The list of U.S. or Canada-bred stallions stood by the Jockey Club of Turkey also includes Always a Classic, Cuvee, Dehere, Lion Heart, Marlin, Sea Hero, Victory Gallop, and Yonaguska.