'He thought he was a winner already!' - luck on Zarathos's side as he finally gets off the mark at the 18th attempt

Dylan Cunha: trainer of ZarathosCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

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Zarathos finally picked up his first win at the 18th attempt when scooting clear to take the mile handicap impressively.

The Dylan Cunha-trained four-year-old had finished in the first three in over half of his first 17 starts, including being beaten a short head, a head and a neck when runner-up three times last year.

However, he got his deserved breakthrough triumph when scoring by four lengths under Kieran Shoemark.

Cunha said: "He's been beaten a couple of times when it was heads up and heads down, so he probably thought he was a winner already! He just didn't have the luck of the draw. Kieran gave him a cracking ride. A good winter rest did him well and I think he'll have a nice summer.

"He's a lovely, sound horse and we'll keep having lots of fun with him. I think the key to him is good to firm ground. We always thought he liked a bit of cut in it and it took us a while to learn that he didn't, but that's what racing's about."

Rider in form

Jack Mitchell made it three winners from his last six rides when Jazl got off the mark in the 6f maiden.

The Simon and Ed Crisford-trained three-year-old was promising in two starts as a juvenile last year, and struck on his comeback by four and a half lengths.

Trainer to note

Jonny Portman continued his red-hot run when Bizou took the 1m2f handicap. The win took the trainer's strike-rate in the last fortnight to 28 per cent.

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