Zayat Stables Generation Y

Justin Zayat is the son of Ahmed Zayat. We emailed over the past couple of days, and I think people should be confident that not all horse fanatics are in their retirement. There's plenty of us who enjoy the sport that don't qualify for the early bird special. Handride - Your dad is the name on the stable; but how does he get the rest of the family involved? You have an interesting email address incorporating your families stable, I'm guessing that's one way. Justin - My father is a very good communicator. He loves getting everyone involved in the entire process. He wants to develop generations who will take care of the stable that he is building. He is a passionate man, putting his heart and his money towards his goal of return racing, as he always says, "to its old majestic way." I’m only 15 and I’m getting an education in purchasing of yearlings, two year olds, and allocation of trainers, every summer I spend a month and a half working in the stables, and he copies me in all the emails he has with the trainers. Although he is expecting me to go to school, I'm hopeful my father's alma mater Harvard, he said the best education is life; the more experience I have in real life will help me a lot. We have a portfolio of our horses and we get emails when each horse works and when they run and are entered. My dad and Sobhy have a weekly conference call with each trainer which takes a while. Bill Mott takes three hours sometimes just to go through all the horses. What decision you think you've helped with that turned out for the best? what ideas did you have that you're happy your dad didn't follow. I'm sure at some sales all the 2yo's yearlings etc look like winners, anything slip through your fingers, or any of your picks panning out? There is one horse I credit myself with picking out: Mushka. I told my dad, we’re not going home without her. We had to battle with Darley first, but we got her. Also there is a filly that we bought this past yearling sale at Fasig-Tipton July, she’s a Malibu Moon filly her dam’s name is Try Your Best. I think she is going to be a very very special filly. She’s is the oaks winner for 09. I also was the one that recommended Steve Assmussen to my dad, which turned out to be great for us! My dad is always listening to what people need to say he never ignores a person’s opinion. Mushka's getting a lot of attention, how did you single her out, who taught you? She’s a very special filly. I learned a lot from my dad, Sobhy Sonbol and Bill Mott. I was walking around at the sale looking at all the freshman sires at the time, and I saw this beautiful filly from far so I went up close to see her and I loved her. I knew she was by Empire Maker and after I brought my dad and Sobhy to look at her they both loved her. She is a big beautiful filly, we got the vet to look over her and she passed for us. Mushka - any day dreams she follows in Rags to Riches steps and goes for the Belmont ? I mean Empire Maker, Seeking the Gold, Seattle Slew, are all in her pedigree tracing back to foundation mare Comely Nell, 1 1/2 shouldn't be a problem, she could probably run from AQU to Belmont and still whip most horses. Mushka is a maybe for the triple crown trail, we are hoping she is the next Rags to Riches, her move in the Demoiselle was eye popping. But I think the Zayat horse for the Derby would be Alaazo, you should watch his maiden race he is a really good one. Mushka could go there but I would want her to run in the Oaks cause she is much tougher than the other fillies I’ve seen. I like Zayat Stable’s chances for pulling a double Derby weekend for sure. Who is your favorite horse so far, not necessarily the biggest winners, just the ones you like? My favorite horse is probably JZ warrior. I was with her on the farm before she went to Bill. She grew so much; I fell in love with her. Understanding you are under the age to bet on your horses, any good stories there? When the Belmont meet starts I normally go to watch them train every Sunday morning and me and my dad stay to watch the races. Even though I’m underage I still bet with my dad when we go to the tracks. I’ve had some good days, but my dad should take credit for teaching me everything I know. One good day was at Saratoga this year at the end of the meet, we won three races in a day, I was there. Justin was also kind enough to pass on the Zayat horse update: Throbbin Heart didn't like the weather in Florida. She is going to Aqueduct and the run in the Dearly Precious stakes. Alaazo is going to run in an allowance race or the Sam Davis. Riley Tucker will follow the same path as Alaazo. Final prep will be the Bluegrass if they are sound and can get to the Derby. Riley will probably have two races before that. All our California colts we are playing day by day as we monitor the Santa Anita situation. Eaton’s Gift is going to the Swale, Halo Najib(30) might head to the Bob Lewis stakes in SA, Z Fortune(15) in the Risen Star. Thank to everyone reading this, I'd be doing my group a disservice if I didn't mention them; please check out the group I'm a part of, the TBA, we have a group RSS feed that is a must read. Headlines or feed.