Carl Bunt, 41, has been referring to his oldest child, Olivia, as ‘Le Zag’ for years, but no one — not even his immediate family — has known why, until now. 

After being approached by The Pakistan Star, acting on an anonymous tip, the mattress salesman was happy to explain that ‘Le Zag’ is in fact short for Le Zagaletta — the grey iron horse that won 14 races in the late 90s and early 2000s.

“Le Zagaletta just kept bloody turning up no matter the track and distance and Olivia is cut from the same cloth,” said an emotional Bunt.

“She’s never given us a day’s grief. She gets straight As, makes her own lunch, does her own washing…”

“Her favourite colours are red and green,” Bunt added with a smile. 

However, Bunt’s demeanour visibly changed when pressed to elaborate on his youngest son Nathan’s nickname.

“His latest ‘thing’ has been flushing stuff down the toilet,” Bunt revealed. “Last week he flushed both the Foxtel remote and Le Zag’s school captain badge. A few years ago I started calling him ‘Nudge’ and it’s just stuck.”

A special investigation by The Pakistan Star has since ascertained that ‘Nudge’ is in fact a reference to the Shaun Dwyer-trained Anudjawun, a two-time winner from 49 outings.

“I lost so much money on that fucking horse and I reckon I’ve spent even more trying to replace the shit Nudge destroys at home,” he said.  

Bunt hopes this article is somehow missed by his wife Brooke, an avid reader of The Pakistan Star, but joked that he’ll be “backtracking faster than Anudjawun in the Lavazza Long Black” if she does read it.

“No doubt some bloody dickhead will tag her on Facebook,” he said.

“Le Zagaletta nearly beat Northerly one day, you know?”

More to follow.