Without A Fight won the 2023 Melbourne Cup in a dominant performance. As we will see shortly, his performances this year represent a marked improvement to those when he arrived in Australia last year. It raises a very important question as to how imported horses adapt to local conditions, including climate and training methods over time. Clearly, the task of winning the Cup on a fly in one-off mission is a much different prospect to that of a horse who has had a year to acclimatise. None of this detracts from the performance of Without A Fight who has rightly joined an elite group of gallopers to have won not only a Melbourne Cup, but also the elusive Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup double.
The gelding did not make his debut until half-way through his 3yo season when he was third in a 2000m maiden at Newbury behind Worthily who also was later to be imported to Australia, this time by Australian Bloodstock. To date he has won a BM70 at Caulfield over 1800m in February 2022. Without A Fight had his next start at the end of July and proceeded to win his next three races at Redcar, Newbury and Haydock. At the end of October, his owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid al Maktoum started the horse in the Listed Noel Murless at Ascot over 14 furlongs. He was to finish third in the four-horse field, beaten only two lengths by Berkshire Rocco. After as spell, Without A Fight returned to run second behind Al Aasy in the Group 3 Surprise Stakes. He then ran third at Ascot behind Albaflora in the Listed Buckhound
