Tab At Zanzibar powers to maiden win at Saratoga

Saratoga handed Brad Cox another colt worth tracking when Tab At Zanzibar turned a useful debut into a clean graduation in Race 3 on the June 5 card. The 3-year-old gelding won a $115,000 maiden special weight at 6 1/2 furlongs on a fast track, beat the field by 3 lengths, and did it in 1:16.34 for owners Robert V. LaPenta and Madaket Stables LLC with Manuel Franco aboard.

The race was more than a routine maiden score because of how Tab At Zanzibar did it. Drawn inside, he broke forward and settled just behind longshot Onepac, who went to the front from the rail and helped force a sharp early tempo. The fractions were honest, :21.60 and :43.95, but Tab At Zanzibar never looked strained while stalking the pace. He swung off the far turn a path off the rail, inhaled the tiring leader, and then kept going to open daylight late. That kind of trip matters: he showed enough speed to stay close, enough composure to relax, and enough finish to separate when the real running started.

The form around him already has some teeth. In his April 25 debut at Aqueduct, Tab At Zanzibar finished second to Sea Strike, who returned to be named a TDN Rising Star after that win. Being beaten by a colt with that kind of upside gives Saturday’s Saratoga result more weight than the average maiden breakthrough. It also makes the final time look less like a soft number and more like a solid foundation for a horse still learning his craft.

The profile says there may be more underneath. Tab At Zanzibar is a Kentucky-bred chestnut gelding by Candy Ride out of Union Maiden, by Union Rags, and Equibase lists him as a $80,000 Keeneland September yearling who was bred by Natalma Bloodstock Limited. He had already been working steadily at Belmont Park, including a 4-furlong move in 48.02 on April 18, which fits the way he looked here: fit, professional and ready to move forward. For Cox, it is another useful Saratoga win on a marquee card, and for this horse, it reads like the kind of second-start step that can carry him into allowance company and, if the next jump comes as cleanly as this one did, beyond that.