Foreign raiders to Merano were upstaged by an Italian – trained chaser in Zubiena yesterday in the 80th running of the Grade II Premio Delle Nazione.

The nine year old, trained by Christian Ghiotti, provided his trainer with his first graded success with a comprehensive 24l beating of Josef Vana’s Almost Human, returning at nearly 11/1.

Eventual winner Zubiana leads, first circuit. ©JCB Photo

Whilst there were several runners with previous success around Merano,  Zubiena’s third place experience in this race in 2023 counted, and jockey Ondrej Velek was able to make best use of the mare’s stamina over the 6,000m trip.

The French-trained Flavius from Patrice Quinton’s yard in Dragey-Ronthon, was the best of the rest, a distant 14l third. Only 4 finished.

Despite only one of his three runners finishing, Almost Human’s distant second place puts him in the driver’s seat in the Crystal Cup, with the next leg on home turf at Pardubice on October 13th.