Anamoe ridden by James McDonald returns to the mounting yard after winning the Neds Might And Power at Caulfield Racecourse. Photo / Getty Images

James McDonald has been here before.

The superstar New Zealand jockey, one of the best in the world, has been to Flemington for the Melbourne Cup plenty of times and in 2021 he even went to the most sacred place in Australian racing: the Melbourne Cup winner’s circle. That was on a late pick-up ride on one of his favourite horses, Kiwi mare Verry Elleegant, who wasn’t even in the Cup until a few days before the great race and McDonald was only able to ride after his original booking was withdrawn.

McDonald gave Verry Elleegant the perfect ride and his boyhood dream became reality, holding his head in his hand in shock, relief, and redemption soon after the line one of the iconic racing images of the last decade.

Now McDonald finds himself in an eerily similar position in today’s $8,706,880 (A$8 million) Cup only without the craving of a champion jockey who has never held racing’s Holy Grail.

McDonald rides defending champion Gold Trip, who he only got on because last year’s winning Cup jockey Mark Zahra thought he had a better chance today riding Without A Fight.

Zahra rode Without A Fight to win the Caulfield Cup on October 21 and one reason he chose him over Gold Trip was the likelihood of a firm Flemington surface today, which may be less than ideal for Gold Trip.

For McDonald, this is 2021 all over again.

“It is so much like the situation I found myself in with her (Verry Elleegant),” McDonald told the Herald.

“Just like this horse nobody doubted her class but they worried about her handicap and the firm track.

“But like Verry Elleegant, this horse (Gold Trip) is a top-class horse who has won a serious weight-for-age race.

“And I don’t think his 58.5kg is too bad. I think it is a Cup with a long tail and the winner should come from the first five horses (top of the field).

“If I’m right about that then the spread in the weights isn’t 8.5kg from Gold Trip to the lowest weighted horses, it is more [than] 3.5kg between us and the other winning chances.

“When you think Verry Elleegant carried 57kg, which is effectively 59kg for a male cause the mares get that 2kg allowance, then he is in a very similar position to her.”

McDonald will find himself in a battle of tactics today with some of the world’s best jockeys, most of those elite contenders at the top of the handicaps.

Ryan Moore rides favourite Vauban, Zahra is in red-hot form on Without A Fight, Joao Moreira partners Soulcombe for Chris Waller and the king of Hong Kong racing Zac Purton is on Absurde.

Directly below Gold Trip in the weights is Alenquer, who will need a veterinary clearance this morning to start, and if he does will be ridden by Damien Oliver, the Aussie legend McDonald is on target to one day usurp.

For jockeys, this is horse racing’s Top Gun, the best of the best stuff, which requires swagger, talent, timing and courage.

At 5.05pm tonight the millions tuned in around the world will only be talking about one jockey.

Like Maverick, McDonald has been here before.

Michael Guerin’s Melbourne Cup Tips

1: Vauban (No.5)

2: Without A Fight (No.3)

3: Soulcombe (No.6)

4: Breakup (No.4)

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s racing editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.