ZARASTRO AND JONES - ALWAYS A FORMIDIBLE FORCE

By Graham Potter | Thursday, January 29, 2026

The Tony Gollan trained Zarastro will have his first start in four months … and jockey Angela Jones will run up more frequent flyer miles … when the team tackles the Group 3 JRA Plate over 1200m at Rosehill on Saturday.

Jones’ last winner for Gollan came aboard Now Is The Hour in the Magic Millions Rising Stars 3Y0 and 4Y0 colts, geldings and entires contest at the Gold Coast … after which Jones made a point of declaring the black, gold spots and black sleeves were her favourite colours … with that statement having as much to do with her association with Zarastro, whose carries the same set of colours, as it has does with Now Is The Hour.

Jones’ relationship with Zarastro has come a long way.

From winning a Class 6 Plate on Zarastro, all the way back in September 2023, through to the present time, Jones has been in the saddle in all but five of the twenty-one starts the son of I Am Invincible has had since joining the Gollan yard from the Chris Waller stable … and she has also been in the saddle in all seven trials that Zarastro has had while with Gollan.

During this time the pair have claimed five victories (most notably in the 2025 edition of the $1 million Magic Millions snippets) and three runner-up finishes (including that agonising Kingsford-Smith Cup result where Jones came within a stride-and-a-half of becoming a Group 1 winning jockey).

So, Gollan, Jones and Zarastro will arrive at Rosehill on Saturday as a proven formidable combination…. but they will have some work to do with Zarastro, now a seven-year-old, being the oldest horse in the race and giving weight to all of his seven opponents (he carries 59kg). He is also first-up.

Six of the eight runners lining up for the JRA Plate are quoted at shorter odds than the $9 on offer about Zarastro’s chances.

Whether that means the Gollan trained runner will be up against it or whether that means $9 is good value odds … only the race will tell.

Having said that, it should be noted that the JRA Plate is, in fact, an open betting race with the favourite The Instructor priced up at $4.60.

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