Astrazar

The first came at Ffos Las on 28 September 2025, and just twelve days later Astrazar stepped up into one of the better races in Britain — a Class 2 at York, one of the country's most prestigious tracks — and won that too. York is not somewhere you stumble into a win; the standard is high, the fields are competitive, and the track itself has a way of sorting out the horses that truly belong at that level. Jockey Paul Mulrennan was refreshingly honest about how it unfolded: Astrazar fluffed the start, got shuffled to the back of the field, and then had to weave his way through traffic before the real race even started. That he still won says something. Mulrennan noted the horse simply knuckled down once he found clear air and galloped all the way to the line — which is exactly the kind of attitude you want to see in a young horse with ambition.

Over distances of seven furlongs to a mile, Astrazar has won 2 of his 5 races — a 40% win rate that stands well above his overall record and suggests this is very much his sweet spot. Walker, who has sent out 76 winners this season from his Lambourn operation, confirmed that range will remain the target. More than that, he has spoken about Astrazar as a potential contender for the Britannia at Royal Ascot — a prestigious mile race for three-year-olds that regularly draws the best of its generation. That is not a target you name casually.

The one puzzle in the record is his regular partnership with Kieran Shoemark, who has ridden him five times without a win between them. Both victories have come with other jockeys in the saddle. Whether that changes going forward remains to be seen. Astrazar ran at Newbury on his seasonal return and didn't win, but Walker was relaxed about it — he felt things simply didn't fall his way. With Royal Ascot on the horizon and a horse apparently training well, the team clearly believe the best is still ahead of him.