If Without A Fight vindicated jockey Mark Zahra’s judgment with Lexus Melbourne Cup glory in the early hours of Tuesday morning, officials at Flemington might claim some justification too after an $8 million feature that crucially got run off without serious injuries to any of the 23 runners.
It is the third year in a row that the race that stops a nation hasn’t been blighted by a fatality.
A sporting event that counts as a national institution in Australia has proved a lightning rod for criticism from animal rights groups over the last decade, prompting Racing Victoria to beef up pre-race veterinary checks on the back of Anthony Van Dyck’s sad demise in 2020.
Definitive proof of a link between such a move and the outcomes since is impossible. But in a results business, conclusions will still be drawn. One horse, Right You Are, did have to be pulled up in the straight by Irish jockey John Allen but walked away apparently unscathed apart from heat stress.
Overall, it spelt good news for authorities who, in the face of predictions that the Cup’s public appeal might be starting to fade, could also be encouraged by a massive 84,492 attendance at Flemington, up over 14 per cent on last year.
Tuesday confirmed another three-year trend of the great race going to a European import trained by local connections.
Without A Fight was a talented if hardly top-class operator for the Simon and Ed Crisford team in Newmarket before looking a transformed proposition Down Under. He is now part of Australian racing folklore after becoming the 12th horse to land the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double.
Zahra (41) who’d deserted last year’s winner Gold Trip in favour of the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained star was proved right in the sweetest fashion as Without A Fight had over two lengths in hand of Soulcombe with the 150-1 outsider Sheraz in third.
In his wake came a trio of Irish runners with the bitterly disappointing favourite Vauban trailing them home in 14th. Willie Mullins’s other runner, Absurde, finished seventh while Joseph O’Brien’s Okita Soushi was 11th.
Mullins was left grasping at possible reasons for Vauban’s tame effort, including a reference to 31-degree heat in Melbourne.
“I thought Vauban was a little disappointing all round. He was beaten too far out for my liking,” Ireland’s champion jumps trainer said.
“When I saw him six furlongs out with Ryan [Moore] having to give him a little niggle, I thought, ‘that’s too far out for him to be niggling him’. He just flattened out and ran very disappointing. But there we are. That’s the nature of this game.,” Mullins added.
After two decades of trying to win the race, he wasn’t left discouraged by this latest reverse and pointed out: “It’s a great prize, it’s a great day, great occasion. If we get one good enough, we will try again.”
Owner Rich Ricci commented: “It’s gutting for everyone involved. We were very confident coming into the race. The horse never fired. Ryan thought he was happy for a furlong and after that it wasn’t great.”
That Vauban was a 10th successive favourite to lose out in the Cup was a reminder of the difficulty in working out such a complicated handicap with various influences from around the world.
Japan’s Breakup could finish only 16th on Tuesday but that was still better than the 2020 Derby winner Serpentine who tried to repeat the front-running tactics that gave him a famous victory at Epsom, only to fade to 19th.
The ex-Jessica Harrington trained Magical Lagoon, winner of last year’s Irish Oaks, trailed in last of the 22 finishers.
The happiest man in Australia proved to be Zahra after becoming the first jockey since 1979 to win the Cup back-to-back on different horses. So comfortably did Without A Fight ultimately win that the rider went by the post innocently holding up two fingers.
“I was giving the two fingers signal for two winners,” he said afterwards after a single minor bum note in an otherwise pitch-perfect spin. “I was standing up and doing this across the post; I’m like, ‘What are you doing you moron!’”
Zahra’s assurance through the race saw him guide the winner from an unfavourable draw in stall 16 and quickly get to the rail with most of his big rivals in his sights.
It was an impressive display of sangfroid from a jockey who admitted to receiving some “flak” for his decision to desert Gold Trip. The latter ultimately finished 17th.
“I thought the biggest opposition was my horse himself for being too keen. Coming out the barriers cold, he’s a horse that settles much better on the fence, tucked away with all the horses around him, so I got him to the fence and he went to sleep straight away,” Zahra said.
