{"id":296301,"date":"2023-11-07T06:23:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T06:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=296301"},"modified":"2023-11-07T06:23:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T06:23:56","slug":"why-jockey-mark-zahra-called-himself-an-idiot-seconds-after-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/horse-racing\/why-jockey-mark-zahra-called-himself-an-idiot-seconds-after-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Why jockey Mark Zahra called himself an idiot seconds after victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Why jockey Mark Zahra called himself an idiot seconds after he crossed the line to win the Melbourne Cup on Without A Fight<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Zahra gave the crowd a two-fingered gesture<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Jockey said he &#8216;didn&#8217;t know what he was thinking&#8217;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0It was his second straight triumph in the Cup<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Aussie jockey Mark Zahra thought he put his foot in it moments after storming home to win the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday\u00a0in front of an 80,000 strong crowd at Flemington.<\/p>\n<p>Without a Fight sliced through the pack to beat the field of 23 local and international horses over 3200m for a massive $8million in prizemoney.<\/p>\n<p>Zahra rode the 2022 winner Gold Trip and made it back-to-back after choosing to ride Without a Fight this Spring Carnival.<\/p>\n<p>Moments after crossing the line, Zahra gave the crowd a two-fingered gesture that he realised immediately might have been offensive to some people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;They all made their moves and it opened up for me,&#8217; Zahra said after the race.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/05\/77489951-12718857-image-a-156_1699333461263.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Without A Fight stormed through the field to win the 2023 Melbourne Cup and give jockey Mark Zahra a second victory in the race that stops the nation<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/05\/77489923-12718857-image-a-157_1699333466191.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The jockey gave the crowd a two-fingered gesture afterwards that he regretted right away<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was on a horse you can sit on. He&#8217;s got an electric turn of foot and he pulled me all the way to the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It was all over and I stood up giving the two fingers for two winners. I don&#8217;t know what I was thinking. Idiot.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Zahra\u00a0hit the lead at the 300 metre mark and pulled away quickly, beating the field by three lengths.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The stars aligned for Gold Trip last year and aligned for this horse this year. Just a few things and the way he won the Caulfield Cup, I was confident he would run it,&#8217; Zahra said.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking later, he admitted to giving Gold Trip &#8216;a bit of a pat&#8217; before the Cup, but said he had moved on from last year&#8217;s glory.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I still give him a wink but I&#8217;ve moved right on. My sole focus was to win again on this horse&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Fellow trainer Sam Freedman described Zahra&#8217;s ride as &#8216;extraordinary&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/05\/77489929-12718857-image-a-158_1699333482596.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Following the race, Zahra called himself an &#8216;idiot&#8217; for the gesture\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/05\/77489945-12718857-image-a-159_1699333490614.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The win completed a Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double for Without A Fight and Zahra<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He got him onto the rail from a wide gate, relaxed, swimmed him off and pretty confident probably the 800m he was travelling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He just needed the brakes to come. He&#8217;s a freak. No doubts on the trip there late. He was excellent.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/racing\/article-12718857\/Melbourne-Cup-2023-Mark-Zahra-idiot-Without-Fight-Flemington-winner.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why jockey Mark Zahra called himself an idiot seconds after he crossed the line to win the Melbourne Cup on Without A Fight \u00a0Zahra gave the crowd a two-fingered gesture \u00a0Jockey said he &#8216;didn&#8217;t know what he was thinking&#8217; \u00a0It was his second straight triumph in the Cup Aussie jockey Mark Zahra thought he put&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why jockey Mark Zahra called himself an idiot seconds after victory - Tell My Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/horse-racing\/why-jockey-mark-zahra-called-himself-an-idiot-seconds-after-victory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why jockey Mark Zahra called himself an idiot seconds after victory - Tell My Sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why jockey Mark Zahra called himself an idiot seconds after he crossed the line to win the Melbourne Cup on Without A Fight \u00a0Zahra gave the crowd a two-fingered gesture \u00a0Jockey said he &#8216;didn&#8217;t know what he was thinking&#8217; 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