The adrenaline was clearly still pumping in Mark Zahra’s veins when he was interviewed following his Melbourne Cup victory after dropping the F-bomb.
Riding Gold Trip, who was given odds of 20/1 before the race, Zahra and his five-year-old mount beat Emissary and High Emocean to claim victory at Flemington. It was a first win in the race for Australia jockey Zahra and trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
Zahra described the win as “a miracle” after being suspended from last year’s race because of a Covid-19 breach that saw the 41-year-old banned for three months. But he is back with a bang – though he could not help but drop some profanities in his post-race interview.
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“The last 50 I was thinking, ‘f*** me, I’m going to win this here’,” he said. “It just went forever, the last bit.”
However, that was not the only Zahra moment when his wife Elyse got onto the nationwide broadcast of the race – noted as the biggest in Australia – and yelled: “No more seconds!”
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(Image: @insiderun/Twitter)
In another interview, Zahra said: “This time last year I was in Byron Bay and I was getting told off for drinking too much. I felt terrible and I was drinking my way out of it. [My wife] was saying, ‘Don’t drink too much’.
“I said, ‘What do you want me to do? My horse just won the Melbourne Cup!’
(Image: 2022 Getty Images)
“It could have been my ride. Redemption day today. For today to come, it is just unbelievable. Mum used to give me the day off as a kid to watch this race so it’s absolutely surreal to win it.
“I feel like crying. It’s unbelievable. What a day. He’s a horse that when you go, you don’t give him a chance to think about it. It’s just elation when I crossed the line. What an amazing feeling.”
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