Zahra makes a strong start to the season at The Valley

We made Mark Zahra our jockey of the day in our main horse racing tips for Saturday and he showed exactly why with three winners and a second from his five rides on the card. It was an early flourish with his wins within four races. 

Zahra has long been an enemy of the betting sites, winning back-to-back Melbourne Cups. A man for the big occasion, the 42-year-old rides sparingly these days but he shows time and time again that he is a crack hoop. Closing in on 1,400 winners in his career, he has 30 Group 1 wins.  

Waimarie lands the best bet 

The opening race on The Valley’s card looked like the best opportunity for Zahra to ride a winner. Waimarie was up in class but she was in a race where she looked like she might be gifted a relatively soft time of things on the front end. 
 
So it proved with Zahra getting the fractions absolutely perfect in the lead on the four-year-old mare. They are now 2/2 together as a combination, arguably the two top performances of her career. 
 
She has only had nine starts so far, looking like she is going to be capable of stepping up to a better level in the spring. Rated 73 coming into Saturday's race, she would not need much more to be competitive in some Listed contests for the training duo of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young. 

Lincoln Rocks makes it two 

The Valley can be a tough place to make up ground from the back. Zahra showed his class on Lincoln Rocks in a race where he was a long way back in the field during the early stages. The run was timed to perfection to hit the front about 150m from the winning post. 
 
It was a notable winner for the new training partnership of Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald who picked up their first Saturday winner. That tally was quickly doubled when West Of Africa saluted at Randwick later on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Lincoln Rocks went 14 months without a run after arriving from New Zealand. He made his debut for this stable in June, winning two of his first three starts for his new training team. The first of those was 1400m after winning over 2200m in the past so he is clearly an adaptable type with regard to trip.  

Dashing Duchess lands the treble 

She was another who was right on the speed throughout. Going from 57 to 77 last season, she is now going to be rated up in the 80’s so is going to be looking at some better races for trainer Symon Wilde. It was another excellent ride from Zahra who judged the right moment to get his mount to the front. 
 
After only 11 starts, there should be a little bit more to come from the five-year-old. She is a half-sister to Poppiholla who was third in the Adelaide Cup when given a proper test of stamina. Wilde said afterwards that she will be aimed at The Archer at Flemington next up in the hope of a Melbourne Cup slot. 
 
There were also two defeats on the card for Zahra. Last Druid was beaten a whisker in race two for Godolphin and James Cummings. There was then a long wait for race eight where Margie’s Boy ended Zahra’s afternoon on a bit of a flat note. 

Zahra has had less than 400 rides per season in each campaign since 2017/18. He is not one to go chasing all over the country for rides but he remains one of the very best. 7/37 at The Valley last year, he also finished second on eight rides there. It is a track where he continues to excel.