World Racing Weekly: Zac Lloyd, Durban July & Alpha

Zac Lloyd Aims To Scratch An Itch For His Dad In The Durban July

There’s been a fair bit of uncertainty around some of the world’s big races this weekend, the will-he-won’t-he of which top colt or colts Aidan O’Brien will send to Sandown for the G1 Eclipse Stakes, his horses skipping over the G1 German Derby, and then the unfortunate scratching of likely race favourite Star Major from the G1 Durban July.

Star Major’s elevated temperature seemed to have scuppered French rider Mickaelle Michel’s hopes of riding in South Africa’s biggest race for the first time. But then along came a couple more scratchings on Wednesday and Michel picked up a spare on Curious Girl for Mike and Mathew de Kock’s stable. 

While all that was going on, Zac Lloyd was preparing himself for his own first ride in the ‘July’. His initial mount Happy Verse had long since been ruled out, so he finds himself on the light-weighted Regulation for the powerful Justin Snaith team.

It’s something of a homecoming for Lloyd who spent the first three years of his life in South Africa before his father, jockey Jeff Lloyd, took the family overseas, riding in Hong Kong, Mauritius and Australia.

The Lloyd family has a big itch to scratch when it comes to the Durban July. Jeff never won the race. 

“I rode in the race 25 times and I rode 11 thirds,” Lloyd senior told Idol Horse. “I went  back a month before I retired to try one last time. I watched all the lead up races and the horse that I wanted to ride was Do It Again. So I said to his trainer, Justin Snaith, ‘Look, I’m keen to come back and try and ride it.’ But he had Anton Marcus booked, so he said, I’ll have a couple of horses in the race, and they’ll all have some sort of a chance. 

“We ran second and Zac’s riding for Justin, and he said, ‘Well, I got your father to run second, which nobody else could do, so surely I can help you.”

Zac Lloyd is a young jockey riding the crest of a wave this year, winning the G1 Golden Slipper at home in Australia and a Royal Ascot feature two weeks ago, and he is eager to scratch the Lloyd itch in the Durban July once and for all.

“I was too young when I left South Africa to remember much about the race, but as I grew older I figured more out, and obviously it was the race that eluded my dad,” he told Idol Horse. “When I was 14 years old or so, he came back to try to win it and then that was a big deal for me, and I knew everything that had gone on and the whole story behind it. I could see then how much it meant.

“It’s always been in the back of our mind as a family, that for either my brother, Jaden, or if I could get a ride in it and try and win it, it’ll be a very proud moment for my dad. So it’s definitely high on my radar.”

If Lloyd wins, he will continue the ‘July’ legacy of his mum Nicola’s side of the family. Her father Aubrey Roberts won the race in 1962, and her grandfather Charlie Barends won in 1938. 

But the last time a jockey won at the first attempt was in 1983 when Mark Sutherland scored on the filly Tecla Bluff. 

“I sat on Regulation this morning, a gallop around Summerveld training centre and I really liked him, loved the way he looked,” Lloyd said. 

“He’s got 52 kilos and I must say, I looked at his past replays and when he wins he wins very well. Last start, they said it was a disaster, he just got a bit on the bridle and he’s a horse that’s had a throat operation. When they get pulling after a throat op, it stuffs everything up. So I’ll be looking to have a smoother passage around.

“I’m very confident I’m on the right horse. Just need to get a nice ride around.”

Meanwhile, in the Eclipse, O’Brien is seeking a record fourth consecutive win and surprised some when he declared that his French Derby winner and second, Constitution River and Hawk Mountain, would both participate. 

That means O’Brien won’t have a German Derby runner, leaving a field of 19 with Gostam and Englishman prominent among the home runners, and Epsom Derby fourth Bay Of Brilliance being the sole British raider.

This Week In Horse Racing History

On June 30, 1990 the great jockey Bill Shoemaker sent out his first winner as a trainer, the two-year-old filly Tempest Cloud at Hollywood Park. And exactly one year later, on June 30 1991, Shoemaker had his first Grade 1 success as a trainer thanks to Alcando in the Beverley Hills Handicap at the same track.

Steve Cauthen earned another piece of history at the Curragh on July 2, 1989 when he rode Old Vic to win the G1 Irish Derby. That made him the first rider to win the four major derbies of the time, having already taken the Derby at Epsom, the Kentucky Derby and the French Derby.

Idol Horse Reads Of The Week

The news that the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is a step closer to allowing geldings to compete has caused a stir in the past week. David Morgan shares his view on the issue.

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COMMENT: Why France-Galop Is Right To Include Geldings In The Arc

It was in September last year that Adam Pengilly spoke to Zac Lloyd about his international ambitions and harnessing his confidence in the right way, so with a first Durban July for the young rising star this weekend, now is a good time to revisit.

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Australian Young Gun Zac Lloyd Reveals Overseas Ambition

Bauyrzhan Murzabayev will ride a leading prospect in Sunday’s German Derby, and in this article from January this year, he told Idol Horse about the two broken vertebrae that had caused him to be sidelined for more than a year.

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No Need To Rush: Bauyrzhan Murzabayev Aims For Spring In Berlin

Racing Photo Of The Week

Date
28 June, 2026

Photographer
Photo by @HipSanIsidro

Location
San Isidro

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Global Blackbook

Alpha had the look of a classic prospect for next year with an impressive win in the opening race on Sunday’s G1 Irish Derby card, a seven-furlong maiden for two-year-old fillies. 

The Aidan O’Brien-trained youngster was smartly out of the gates under Ryan Moore and pretty much held the lead throughout. What was particularly likeable was the way she raced with her ears pricked, alert, attentive and enthusiastic, right until the two-furlong pole when Moore got into the drive and Alpha’s ears switched to business mode. She looked even better at that point, lengthening willingly to open up a six-length gap at the winning post.

It was a very good second start for the Flaxman Holdings and Coolmore homebred filly, who has clearly progressed since her debut second when she was slowly away and did her best work late on. 

Alpha is by Sea The Stars out of the Niarchos family’s homebred mare Alpha Centauri, a four-time Group 1 winner at three, including the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the weight-for-age Prix Jacques le Marois. Alpha’s fourth dam is the great mare Miesque.

Oh, hello 👀

The superbly-bred ALPHA puts on a show in the opener @curraghrace.

She's been slashed into as short as 10/1 for the 1,000 Guineas.@WorldPool | @GAINEquine pic.twitter.com/pcj09n1mId

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 28, 2026

World Horse Racing Calendar: What’s Coming Up

Durban July Day
Greyville, South Africa, July 4

South Africa’s biggest race, the Durban July, will be without ante-post favourite Star Major but it will feature Australian-based jockeys Zac Lloyd, Chad Schofield and Mark du Plessis. Lloyd will ride Regulation after his planned mount Happy Verse was ruled out injured. Meanwhile, veteran champion Andrew Fortune had a fairytale win in the G1 Cape Town Met earlier this year and will ride the star filly Wish List as he attempts to win the July for the first time, too.

Eclipse Stakes Day
Sandown, England, July 4

Aiden O’Brien has French Derby 1-2 Constitution River and Hawk Mountain, as well as recent Royal Ascot winner Causeway and possible pacemaker Flushing Meadows in the Eclipse as he attempts to win the race for the fourth year in a row. Wathnan Racing, meanwhile, has the Owen Burrows-trained Gethin, second to Ombudsman at the course and distance last time, as well as their own possible pacemaker, King’s Gambit. 

Deutsches Derby Day
Hamburg, Germany, July 5

The Marcel Weiss-trained Englishman emerged as a leading Derby contender with his win in the recognised trial, the G2 Sparkasse Kolnbonn 191st Union-Rennen at Cologne on June 14, while the Andreas Wohler-trained Gostam, last year’s top juvenile colt in Germany, won the G2 Bavarian Classic in May before finishing eighth in the French Derby. Salitos was beaten a neck when third in the G2 Italian Derby last month.

July Cup Day
Newmarket, England, July 11

Japan’s Satono Reve could attempt to nail the European Group 1 he has gone so close to winning. The entire was runner–up in the last two editions of the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes and could face his most recent conqueror Almeraq. Also engaged is the three-year-old filly Venetian Sun, winner of the G1 Commonwealth Cup last time, while the G1 King Charles III Stakes winner Mission Central could make it one of the British season’s most compelling races. 

Irish Oaks Day
Curragh, Ireland, July 18

Aidan O’Brien has a typically strong hand among the Irish Oaks entries, notably the G1 Prix de Diane heroine Diamond Necklace and recent G1 Coronation Stakes winner Precise, who already has the G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas in the bag. Thundering On won the Oaks at Epsom for trainer Joseph O’Brien but was beaten into fourth behind older mares in the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes last time.

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