Few riders arrive at the opening day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival with as strong a hand as Mark Zahra does this year. The in-form jockey holds key bookings across several feature races at Flemington on Saturday, putting him in a position to shape the headline results of the day.
Zahra will partner leading Derby contender Observer in the Victoria Derby (2500m), Tentyris in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), and Leica Lucy in the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), where all three runners sit among the top chances in early markets.
On top of those, Zahra also rides short-priced favourite Getta Good Feeling in the Wakeful Stakes (2000m) and Vinrock, the second pick in the Carbine Club Stakes (1200m), opening the program.
“I’ve got three good chances in the Group 1’s,” Zahra said.
“I’d be happy with one and even happier with anything above that.
“And Getta Good Feeling, she’s got the best form in her race and looks hard to beat, but it doesn’t always pan out that way.
“But we’ve definitely got some ammo heading in there.”
Zahra currently leads the Melbourne Jockeys’ Premiership and highlighted Tentyris as the horse he is especially eager to ride.
He has been aboard the colt in his early career as well as in both of his three-year-old runs, including his last-start success at Caulfield.
“He seems to be a horse that is coming good at the right time,” Zahra said.
“It’s a massive race the Coolmore, especially for these colts and especially for Godolphin.
“He’s got a really good turn of foot. He’s a horse that we rode forward early in his career, and he wasn’t as brilliant.
“You have to ride him cold, and the punters will have their hearts in their mouth. I’ll be out the back, sitting cold, but you watch his turn of foot late.”
Zahra guided Observer to a comfortable win at Moonee Valley last week, though it resulted in a $1500 fine for not fully riding the colt out.
“He pricked his ears late and idled down more than I thought, but it was all good,” Zahra said.
“If you look at him, he’s not a massive horse and I didn’t want him to be having a real gut-buster in that type of race.
“For me, there was no reason to be riding him right out to the finish. You don’t get any more for winning by five lengths.
“It obviously got a bit too close for the stewards liking, but I was always confident of the win, and I wanted to save something for Saturday.”
Leica Lucy will wear a one-eyed blinker in the Empire Rose, and although Zahra has not yet ridden her raceday, he trialed her recently at Flemington.
“Hanging in has been a problem for her in her past couple of runs,” Zahra said.
“They’ve got the one-eyed blinker on and she’s drawn low, so hopefully she uses that as a guide.”
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