Four-time group 1 winner Zaaki has been retired from racing after a 48-start career and amassing more than AU$11 million in prize money.
The 9-year-old son of Leroidesanimaux was purchased by his trainer Annabel Neasham and Blandford Bloodstock for 150,000 guineas at the 2020 Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale and went on to race 27 times in Australia, recording 11 wins and a further 10 placings.
From an Australian debut that saw him run sixth in the 2021 Doncaster Mile (G1), Zaaki would go on to score in the 2021 Doomben Cup (G1), 2021 Underwood Stakes (G1), 2021 Mackinnon Stakes (G1), and then again in the same race when it was renamed as the Champions Stakes in 2022.
Zaaki's last run saw him finish runner-up in the Dec. 9 Northerly Stakes (G1) at Ascot.
Neasham made the announcement March 29 and praised the gelding who she attributes as a catalyst to her own success as a trainer.
"To look back now, he may well be the best horse I ever trained and to start my career with him is unbelievable," she said. "He took my name straight in lights winning group 1s in my first season of training.
"I'd only been training for 14 months when I had the favorite for the Cox Plate. Obviously, that was a fateful day when we had to scratch him, but he, without a doubt, accelerated my career.
"He won't be replaced. He'll always be incredibly special to me."
Our beautiful Zaaki has run his last race and will now begin his retirement as a happy, healthy horse.
— Annabel Neasham Racing (@ANeashamRacing) March 28, 2024
To his owners, thank you for the amazing memories that we have shared with you over the years cheering him home. We have made lifelong friends with you and it has been an… pic.twitter.com/3j0S0lDxM2
