Zanoosh

Trained by C A Murphy out of Gorey in County Wexford, Zanoosh has a career record that most racehorses could only dream of — five wins from just ten races, which works out to winning exactly half of everything it has entered. To put that in perspective, a win rate of 50% is genuinely exceptional. Most good horses win somewhere between one in five and one in four races over a career. Winning one in two suggests a horse that is being placed in the right races at the right time, and crucially, delivering when it gets there. Murphy's yard has been in solid form this season, sending out nine winners, and Zanoosh has been a significant part of that story.

The partnership with jockey Brian Hayes has been particularly productive. In six races together, Hayes has ridden Zanoosh to four wins — that's a two-thirds success rate, which is a remarkable number for any horse-and-rider combination. When those two line up together, it has ended in the winner's enclosure more often than not, and that kind of chemistry matters.

Zanoosh got off the mark at Fairyhouse in April 2025 and has barely looked back since. The most recent win came at Limerick just a fortnight ago, meaning this is a horse in the form of its life right now, not one living on past glories. At six years old, there's every reason to think the best may still be ahead. Whatever race C A Murphy points Zanoosh at next, it will arrive with a four-race winning streak, a jockey who clearly knows how to get the best from it, and the kind of momentum that makes it very difficult to look past.