Zimmerman

Start with the ground. On wet or muddy ground, Zimmerman has won 3 times from just 8 races — that is a 38% win rate, or better than 1 in every 3 attempts. In racing terms, that is a remarkable conversion. Easterby has been open about it: "Zimmerman loves soft ground," he said after the horse's most recent win at York in July 2024, and that is not just trainer talk — the numbers back it up entirely. Find him a wet day and he becomes a different proposition.

That York win came on 13 July 2024, which now sits 22 months in the past, and Zimmerman has gone six races without winning since. His recent form reads 5-5-3-8-6-2, finishing second most recently — so he is not disgracing himself, but the winning thread has gone quiet. He is also most at home over a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs, a specialist middle-distance stayer, and Easterby had ambitions for him at that level: back in April 2024 he was earmarked for the Chester Cup and the Northumberland Plate, two of the better long-distance races in the calendar. That tells you the yard believed in him.

Haydock Park stands out on his record — 2 wins from 5 races there, which is where his career began on 7 May 2022. Jockey Sean Kirrane has been his most regular partner, and together they have won 3 times from 12 races — a win rate of 25%, or 1 in every 4 rides together. That is a productive partnership by any measure.

Easterby's yard has been in fine form this season, sending out 126 winners, so Zimmerman is competing in a busy, confident stable. He raced just yesterday and remains active. At Class 4 — the bread-and-butter level where most of his races have been run — he has won 4 times from 21 attempts. A wet day, the right distance, and Haydock in the diary: that is when you keep a closer eye on him.