Zaaki: A champion's next challenge

When Zaaki ran his 48th and final race in early 2024, he left the track with a record that spoke for itself: 15 wins, four Group 1s, six Group 2s, including the 2021 and 2022 Champions Stakes and 2022 All-Star Mile, and more than $11 million in prizemoney. Trained by Annabel Archibald (nee Neasham), the British-born gelding had been one of Australian racing’s great entertainers – confident, arrogant in the best possible sense, and utterly brilliant.

But the story didn’t end there.

Zaaki is now competing at the elite eventing level under Australian Olympian Shenae Lowings – and his new connections believe the 11-year-old has what it takes to contest the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“It’s been a great journey, and he’s turning out to be as much of a champion in eventing as he was on the racetrack, so it’s really exciting,” Lowings said.

The path from Archibald’s stable to Lowings’s care took Zaaki through the hands of accomplished eventer Charlie Richardson, who began the patient work of retraining a horse whose entire education had been about going as fast as possible in a straight line. The transition wasn’t without its challenges. Jumping, it turned out, was not initially among Zaaki’s strengths.

“Annabel told me he wasn’t very good over the jumps at the track – he was quite scared of them and didn’t really know what he was doing,” Lowings said. “When I got him, it definitely was a bit of a process. He wanted to be really careful, which means he didn’t want to knock the poles down.”

Careful turned out to be the foundation for something exceptional. Once Zaaki understood what was being asked of him, something clicked.

“Once he figured out how to get over them, he’s just developed this amazing technique,” said Lowings. “Thoroughbreds don’t always have the best technique, but he really does. He’s got the front end, the back end, and he seems to have the scope. He’s figured it out, and he’s excelling.”

The progress has been rapid.

Zaaki performed impressively at the Thoroughbred Sport Horse Association National Titles at Stonewall in New South Wales in early 2026, before competing in the three-day international event in Werribee in June, where he finished 3rd in the Off The Track CCN1*-L at the 2026 4CYTE™ Melbourne International Three- Day Event.

Lowings, who represented Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics aboard Bold Venture, is optimistic about what comes next for Zaaki, but is careful not to burden him with expectation.

“I truly believe he’s a good enough jumper to go all the way.

It’s just mentally and physically whether he wants to do that. His natural ability, I think, is good enough,” she told The Verdict podcast.

“I don’t want to have too many goals with him. I just want him to enjoy his career after racing. He really doesn’t owe anyone anything.”

So far, there’s little sign of Zaaki wanting to slow down. If anything, the opposite.

“At this stage, he’s absolutely loving it, but the minute he stops loving it is the minute we’ll stop, but I can’t see that happening any time soon,” said Lowings.

It’s a sentiment that would come as no surprise to Archibald, who watched Zaaki grow from a horse adjusting to an Australian summer into a genuine superstar.

“As a trainer, he took me to places you dream of getting to at any point in your career, let alone at the start,” she once reflected. “Zaaki’s been a big part of my success.”

Now he’s busy building a second chapter – and if Lowings is right, it might be the greatest one yet.