‘Just keep a lid on it’: Zahra wins four on Derby Day but wants more as cup carnival continues

Mark Zahra spoke to Nine following his record equalling four wins at Victoria Derby Day today.

He spoke while carrying his boxed-up trophies from the four victories which included the two biggest group 1 races in the Victoria Derby and the Coolmore Stud Stakes in front of a crowd of 86,112 at Flemington.

On the day overall: I can’t even remember what I won on first....it was good to have two winners on the board. So full of confidence heading into Tentyris. And I thought he was my best ride today. He’s just improved and improved and won the big one, you start to think, can I do it again? And yeah. And then Observer just led all the way. So yeah. Fantastic day.

On the reactions from his wife: I just tell her [wife Elyse] I’ll meet you in the yard after. Just keep a lid on it. But she’s pretty fired up about today. I’ve told her it’s day one for the carnival, so we’ve just got relax, get through the rest of the week first.

On his daughter’s reaction: She asked if I had a winner or not, but she’d rather watch Gabby’s Dollhouse than the races at the moment. She does like when I bring her home a trophy. So I’ve got a few to a few to hand over for her tonight.

Thanks so much for joining us for another brilliant day of spring carnival racing.

We will be back on Tuesday morning with our bumper Melbourne Cup Day live blog so please join us then and keep visiting our sport pages for more racing coverage.

Have a wonderful evening and bye for now.

This gallery is well worth going through as our photographers captured all the style, colour and emotions from Victoria Derby Day.

Click here to go through the picture gallery.

People love a dress code. “It makes things easier,” says stylist Lana Wilkinson about the tradition of wearing black and white to Derby Day, the first race meeting of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Here are the people who cracked the code.

Michelle Monaghan in Altuzarra and Magda Butrym

“This is my first horse race and my first Derby Day,” says The White Lotus actress Michelle Monaghan, who was a guest of Lexus in their sprawling pavilion in the Birdcage enclosure at Flemington Racecourse.

Click here to read the story.

The field and the barrier numbers have been confirmed for the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday following the barrier draw at Flemington this evening.

This is the field listed by the top weight first.

Al Riffa (19)
Buckaroo (12)
Arapaho (15)
Vauban (2)
Chevalier Rose (5)
Presage Nocturne (9)
Middle Earth (13)
Meydaan (22)
Absurde (4)
Flatten The Curve (17)
Land Legend (16)
Smokin’ Romans (11)
Changingoftheguard (24)
Half Yours (8)
More Felons (23)
Onesmoothoperator (6)
Further (7)
Parchment Party (3)
Athabascan (1)
Goodie Two Shoes (20)
River Of Stars (14)
Royal Supremacy (21)
Torranzino (18)
Valiant King (10)

Mark Zahra spoke to Nine following his record equalling four wins at Victoria Derby Day today.

He spoke while carrying his boxed-up trophies from the four victories which included the two biggest group 1 races in the Victoria Derby and the Coolmore Stud Stakes in front of a crowd of 86,112 at Flemington.

On the day overall: I can’t even remember what I won on first....it was good to have two winners on the board. So full of confidence heading into Tentyris. And I thought he was my best ride today. He’s just improved and improved and won the big one, you start to think, can I do it again? And yeah. And then Observer just led all the way. So yeah. Fantastic day.

On the reactions from his wife: I just tell her [wife Elyse] I’ll meet you in the yard after. Just keep a lid on it. But she’s pretty fired up about today. I’ve told her it’s day one for the carnival, so we’ve just got relax, get through the rest of the week first.

On his daughter’s reaction: She asked if I had a winner or not, but she’d rather watch Gabby’s Dollhouse than the races at the moment. She does like when I bring her home a trophy. So I’ve got a few to a few to hand over for her tonight.