‘It was the race that changed my life’: Legendary jockey Jim Cassidy is pumped for the 2024 Melbourne Cup carnival

There are some fantastic racing carnivals around the world, but none capture the whole city or bring together people from all walks of life like Flemington does.

There’s nothing quite like the four days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

There are some fantastic racing carnivals around the world, but none capture the whole city or bring together people from all walks of life like Flemington does.

When you’re a jockey, winning any race, let alone one of the big ones, in Cup Week is as good as it gets … coming back to scale in front of those massive crowds.

It’s been such a big part of my life and I can’t wait to get back, even just as a spectator this week.

• PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

The Melbourne Cup is called the race that stops a nation, but for me it was the race that changed my life.

As confident a young fella as I was back then, not even I could have imagined what that win on Kiwi way back in 1983 would do for me.

I was a 20-year-old apprentice from NZ, who most Aussies had never heard of. Few even knew who Kiwi was, either. He’d won the Wellington Cup earlier in the year, but I don’t think too many Aussies took him seriously.

It’s now history he “did a Kiwi” – which has become racing language – and stormed home from last to win easily.

• DAMIEN OLIVER: There’s Gold for punters in this year’s Victoria Derby

That win, and everything that went with it, made me a household name. It paved the way for me make Australia home, win more than 100 Group 1 races, ride some great champions and have the honour of being inducted into both the Australian and NZ Racing Halls of Fame.

Thank you Kiwi and thank you Melbourne Cup.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched the replay, but every time I do, I marvel at how far from the leaders Kiwi was and the way he just steamrolled them.

At the time in the race, I knew I was a long way back, but I always had faith in him. He felt amazing all the way and he’d come from a mile back to win that Wellington Cup.

That feeling moments after the race. Returning to scale on him in front of what seemed a sea of people. I’d never seen anything like it. Imagine being a young racing loving kid and living out that fantasy.

• Clinton Payne’s 2024 Victoria Derby tips, runner-by-runner form analysis

To do it again 14 years later, at the height of my career and in such different fashion, was remarkable.

It’s largely because it was on such a special horse in Might And Power and we led throughout, which everyone wants to tell you is almost impossible in a Melbourne Cup.

They took him on at the 1200m, again at the 600m and he was still able to fight-off a great horse in Doriemus, a horse who’d already won the Cup himself, and win by a nose. He did things 99.9 per cent of horses couldn’t do.

I’ll never forget hearing Greg Hall (Doriemus’ jockey) roar and punch the air after the line. He thought he’d beaten me, but I wasn’t so sure.

• 2024 Melbourne Cup final field latest news

Bringing Might And Power back to scale was up with the greatest moments I’ve had because he was a real people’s horse, I wanted to share the moment with the crowd, just as I did when he won the Cox Plate the following year.

In retirement, I’ve been fortunate to be a Melbourne Cup ambassador and going all around the world and seeing the joy and passion the Cup trophy itself stirs, makes me feel so privileged to have twice been part of its amazing history.

Other races have emerged and innovation is great and important, but there is only one Melbourne Cup and whoever wins it on Tuesday will feel that and know that.

• ‘Still getting over it’: Egan eyes Derby Day consolation after Guineas defeat

Who would I like to ride? Buckaroo is the one. He’ll get back in the field, not as far as Kiwi did, and the way he finished off Caulfield really impressed me. If he runs out the 3200m, which I think he will, he’s clearly the one to beat.

In Saturday’s Victoria Derby, if El Castello has any luck from the wide draw, he looks too good for them.

■ Jim Cassidy writes for us courtesy of Ladbrokes

Originally published as ‘It was the race that changed my life’: Legendary jockey Jim Cassidy is pumped for the 2024 Melbourne Cup carnival