Who needs to take a second Gold Trip if you can win Melbourne Cup again Without a Fight?

Mark Zahra copped plenty of criticism for jumping off the horse he won on last year. But he proved it was the right decision as Without a Fight charged home.

Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra high fives members of the crowd after riding Without a Fight to victory on Tuesday. Picture: David Caird

It was a victory of validation for a bold decision few others would have been brave enough to make.

A year ago, jockey Mark Zahra had won the Melbourne Cup for the first time in his career on Gold Trip.

On Tuesday, he won it again.

But this time it was on another horse, Without a Fight, which he had controversially switched to only two weeks ago to ride instead of Gold Trip.

Talk about making the right decision. A Ruthless decision. A winning decision.

Zahra had copped plenty of criticism for his move, which happened after he had won the Caulfield Cup on Without a Fight and beaten home a field including Gold Trip.

Sentimentality is always front and centre in racing, and plenty had wanted Zahra to stick with last year’s winner. There was even some derision from spectators on Tuesday as he walked out and mounted up on the seven-year-old brown gelding.

Yet Zahra said he knew he had Tuesday’s big race won with 400m to go, ironically having tailed Gold Trip and its jockey James McDonald to a good spot as the field ran down the famous straight at Flemington.

“I was following the right jockeys and when they made their moves it opened up for me a bit and then when I got into the clear, well, once it opens up like that it is a great feeling,” Zahra said afterwards as the almost 85,000-strong crowd digested the win, an interest rate rise and stiflingly hot weather on a sultry Melbourne spring day.

He admitted he still had a soft spot for Gold Trip, who finished well back in 17th after starting second favourite, but the decision to switch to Without a Fight had been cold-blooded.

“It gets to the point that this is my business, not [that] I just ride this horse because I love it,” Zahra said.

“I have to make a decision based on what horse I think can win. I just think I just had to really put everything aside and just go with the horse that can win no matter what [another] has done for you in the past.”

Zahra became the first jockey to win consecutive Cups on two different horses since Harry White repeated on Hyperno in 1979 after triumphing with Arwon in 1978.

Without a Fight was the first Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup winner in the same year since Ethereal in 2001 – only 12 horses have claimed that double.

Otherwise, it was a tale of who was there at Flemington and who wasn’t for those connected to the winner.

Without a Fight is trained by Sam Freedman and his elusive father Anthony, brother of Lee Freeman who trained five Melbourne Cup winners in a storied career.

Sam Freedman was at Flemington on Tuesday, Anthony was, as is his usual habit, sitting watching the race with best mate Simon Gillies at a winery at Merricks North down on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula – exactly as he had done for the Caulfield Cup win.

When asked if he’d wanted his dad to be there for the win, Sam Freedman said with a chuckle: “It was probably the exact opposite, stay exactly where you were for the Caulfield Cup and don’t come near the races.

“If we’re going to keep winning these big ones I’m sure he’s happy to stay away. He does all the hard work at home and just enjoys watching it with one of his best mates. I’m sure it will be a pretty good afternoon for them.”

Without a Fight is owned by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s ruling family who was also watching at home, meaning there was no ownership group hollering with delight in Flemington’s mounting yard.

Sam Freedman said he had spoken to Sheikh Mohammed after the race and that “he was pretty emotional. I’m sure it means a lot to him.”

It also meant a lot to the younger Freedman. Zahra had tasted success last year and said he had to coax the trainer through the week and calm him down and tell him he didn’t have to prepare too early.

Zahra revealed he had dined at Crown’s highly rated Nobu restaurant on Saturday night and shared a bottle of champagne.

Definitely celebrating in the mounting yard on Tuesday were Zahra’s wife Elyse and sister Clare, who had stayed in town from Perth – parents Bernadette and John were watching from Glen Forrest – to watch the Cup after leaving a couple of days before last year’s win.

“He’s a real pest. He’s the youngest of the four of us, but he’s a great brother,” Clare said. “But I always text him before each race and today he texted back with the arms up emoji and saying ‘we’ve got it’.”

Zahra’s wife Elyse said he hadn’t uttered a word to her on the morning of the race, and she knew to stay out of his way as he zoned in on preparing for the big day, sleeping in the guest bed and wearing the same suit jacket on Tuesday as he had last year.

“It is vindication. He has done it twice now,” she said.

“He’s the only one who has been on both horses. He knows. Just back him.”