Trev delivers on trial promise for Zahmel

By Jordan Gerrans

Jockey Adin Thompson feels rookie conditioner Kris Zahmel has a smart galloper on his hands following the impressive debut performance of Trev at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Racing as a colt, Trev backed up his stylish trial efforts with his first run under race day pressure as he went on to score by more than two lengths.

The son of Pierata has been a trial star since the back end of 2025.

He bolted in by more than nine lengths at Toowoomba late last year before blitzing a Doomben trial by five lengths in early June.

Thompson did the steering in the Doomben trial and was handed the race day assignment by the Darling Downs-based Zahmel.

The 39-year-old Zahmel has been around the industry for many years, but Trev’s romp on Saturday was his maiden win since taking out his own training ticket.

Hoop Thompson believes there is more to come from Trev.

“The trial was good and that was obviously against town-quality horses,” Thompson said.

“He went to the races and did what we expected he was going to do off his trials. We have just got to hope being a two-year-old he can progress as there's always improvement.

“In the race on Saturday, considering he jumped from an awkward gate, he began super well and put himself in front.

“I think later on he's going to be a better horse ridden probably off the speed.

“I always find it is better for two-year-olds to be ridden off the speed and they can pick them up and win. He's definitely not one-dimensional.

“I was very happy with how he skipped away; I rode him hands and heels, so he probably could have won by more of a margin if I got really tested by any horse in the race.

“It was pretty comfortable.”

Zahmel prepares his small team of gallopers out of Toowoomba alongside his partner Jenna Amory, who has also trained her own stable in recent years.

Amory and Zahmel run a spelling and pre-training facility on the outskirts of Toowoomba at Cambooya.

Amory and Zahmel have settled on the Darling Downs in recent years after previously training out of Townsville, Innisfail and Mackay across the north of the state.

Thompson had a connection with the barn after riding a winner for Amory at Clifford Park in April of last year, so he was glad to take the opportunity to trial Trev recently.

Amory was thrilled to see Trev hand Zahmel his maiden win as a trainer.

Zahmel had previously taken five starters to the races in his name dating back to early May of this year.

“He is a good horse, he goes well,” Amory said of Trev. 

“It is very exciting. 

"Kris puts a lot of hard work in with these horses.”

Trev led in the early exchanges of the QTIS Two-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1000 metres and was not headed again.

Gold Coast broadcaster Mitch Manners made special mention of Zahmel’s career milestone in the call.

“Kris has only been at the caper for a couple of starters now,” Manners said.

Trev was initially prepared by Lindsay Hatch at Toowoomba before the veteran mentor opted to step away from training and become Tony Gollan’s assistant trainer at the Gold Coast.

When Hatch finished up training, Zahmel took on the promising juvenile.

The rookie mentor has long had an association with the Hatch camp and also picked up gallopers such as That's A Beauty, Tazgirl, Simba's Pride and Rusty Bolt when the veteran horseman moved away from training in his own right.

Thompson is hopeful he can stick with Trev through his campaign.

“I think good luck to him because he's the right person to have a nice horse,” Thompson said of Zahmel.

“He's a genuine, nice guy. Kris being Kris, he's very, very kind with his horses.

“So, whether he just looks after him now and puts him out in the paddock, we will see.

“He's obviously a two-year-old and he's a nice big two-year-old being a colt so he's heavy, they might look after him, put him out in the paddock.

“Or, if he goes around again, well, that's up to him, but hopefully I get the call-up to ride him again.”

Zahmel heads to Lockyer Valley Turf Club on Saturday with That's A Beauty engaged while he has Yelarbon Lad nominated for the Eagle Farm meeting on Wednesday.