Mark Zahra holds strong 2025 Victoria Derby Day hand

Mark Zahra is heading into the Flemington Carnival opener with one of the strongest collections of feature-race rides he has ever taken into a single meeting. The top jockey has been entrusted with key mounts across several major Group 1 contests on Saturday.

His headline booking is Derby favourite Observer in the Victoria Derby (2500m), but he also teams up with second favourite Tentyris in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and third pick Leica Lucy in the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m).

Zahra adds further depth to his day with Getta Good Feeling in the Wakeful Stakes (2000m) and Vinrock in the Carbine Club Stakes (1200m).

“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.”

Among his feature rides, Zahra said Tentyris is the one he is most excited about. He has ridden the Godolphin colt at key stages of his career and rates him a colt peaking at the right moment.

“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.”

Last weekend, Zahra piloted Observer to a soft win at Moonee Valley, though easing down late drew the attention of stewards.

“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.”

Zahra has also partnered Leica Lucy in a recent Flemington jump-out and expects the one-eyed blinker to be crucial to her chances.

“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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