Zagreb was a dark bay horse standing 16.2 hands high[2] with no white markings bred in Kentucky by his owner Allen Paulson.
[5] On his second appearance, the colt was matched against older horses in the Quality Beef Stakes over one and a half miles at Leopardstown Racecourse on 12 June.
The betting was headed by the Henry Cecil-trained Dushyantor, who had finished second when favourite for The Derby, with the other leading contenders including the 1995 Cartier Champion Two-year-old Colt Alhaarth, the previously undefeated Dr Massini (ridden by Kinane) and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Polaris Flight who had been beaten a nose in the Prix du Jockey Club on his previous start.
Shanahan settled Zagreb just behind the leaders before turning into the straight in third place behind Private Song and Dusyantor, with Polaris Flight close behind.
Zagreb pulled against Kinane's attempts to restrain him in the early stages, but turned into the straight in third place and maintained his position until the field approached the last 200 metres, but then dropped back quickly and finished thirteenth of the sixteen runners, fourteen lengths behind the winner Helissio.