Royal Ascot 2025 jockey flies 10.5k miles for ‘one of top moments of my career'
Two-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra rode his first royal meeting winner on his debut at the meeting when Docklands won a photo-finish for the Queen Anne Stakes
One of the stars of the saddle from Australia flew 10,500 miles to realise 'one of the top moments of my career' on his Royal Ascot debut. The Harry Eustace-trained Docklands finished second in the Queen Anne Stakes 12 months ago when ridden by Hayley Turner.
Turner retired from the saddle this year after announcing she was pregnant, leaving the ride on the five-year-old, owned by Aussie-run syndicate OTI Racing, vacant. Richard Kingscote rode Docklands to two defeats this year but connections booked two-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra for the Queen Anne Stakes, even though he had never ridden at the meeting before.
Docklands, last away from the stalls, made his move on the far side of the group and battled it out with favourite Rosallion to edge a photo-finish by a nose, scoring at odds of 14-1, despite Zahra losing his whip in the closing stages.
'Everyone kept scaring me about the whip rules, I thought it was easier to throw it away at the 200m,' said the jockey. 'It was a very slow, slow speed. I crept as much as I could, got room at the right time, he burst through and kept responding. It was such a tough effort.
'What an amazing feeling. The build-up was amazing and the crowd is here. It's one of the top moments of my career for sure.'
Harry Eustace, who took over the Newmarket yard of his Royal Ascot-winning father James when he started training, said: 'This is pretty sweet.
'It was tough watching. A photo is tough. If ever there was a track where you need a horse as a specialist, it's here because it's the best racing.
'I can't thank Terry Henderson and OTI enough. They got offered a huge amount of money after he won the Britannia here. They wanted to enjoy a good racehorse and roll the dice. Thankfully it's paid off.'
Richard Hannon, who trained Rosallion to win the St James's Palace Stakes last year, was gutted to miss out with the 5-2 favourite.
'He's still a top class miler. I thought he had it there. He did everything but win and you can't ask for much more than that. It hurts, but so it should. He's beaten an awful lot of champions, hit the front, got done, but no one died.'
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