2003 Melbourne Cup: The beginning of greatness

The lightly weighted four-year-old was still unproven, but Boss sensed her potential. “She had an unbelievable turn of speed,” he recalled. “My only instructions from David Hall were, ‘When you get to the 600, count to 10.’ That was what I was going to do anyway.”

Sitting patiently in midfield, he waited for his moment, then let her go with perfect timing. “When I let the shackles go on her, it was just amazing speed,” he said. Her final run was so powerful that she clocked faster sectionals than the day’s sprint race.

Crossing the line, Boss was overwhelmed. “Every sinew in my body was pulsing with electric signals … I was walking on cloud nine.”

It was the first of three Cups that would propel both horse and rider into history.