Zanndabad
Zanndabad is seven now, but he remains a horse in whom to be interested, as evidenced by the performance that he put up in the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle on Saturday. He only finished eighth in the end, but he was held up and wide in a race in which they didn't go a great pace, and in which the prominent racers dominated. Settled by Niall McCullagh towards the rear of the field early on, as is his wont, he had to go wide around the home turn, and he got a little out-paced when they quickened before staying on strongly. The winner and the second, Align The Stars and Kirchner, were prominent from early and the finishing speed was over 108% of overall speed. Passing the two-furlong marker, the first seven home already occupied the first seven places. No horse got into the first seven places from behind. Zanndabad was 15th at that point, and he finished eighth. He was fastest through the penultimate furlong, and he was second fastest through the final furlong, after the winner Align The Stars.
A four-time winner on the flat in France for Francis Graffard, Tony Martin's horse won twice over hurdles in Britain last winter. This was just his second run on the flat this season, and he didn't have a whole lot of luck either in his previous race, the Chester Cup, when the sedate pace was no good for his hold-up style of racing. He has options now though, and another 1lb drop in the weights takes him down to a mark of 89, 6lb lower than his peak on the flat. A mile and six furlongs is probably his optimum trip, but he ran a big race in the Sky Bet Handicap over a mile and a half at York's Ebor meeting last year. He travelled well into his race that day and, if they had come into the centre of the track in the home straight, he might well have won. As it was, they stayed on the inside rail, and he didn't get out until it was too late. Even so, he finished off his race well to finish fourth, less than two lengths behind the winner. He is 3lb lower now in the handicap than he was then, and he will be of interest if he goes back to York next month. He is still one to look out for in races in which it looks like there is going to be plenty of early pace.
Newcastle, 27th June 2026
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