Gai Waterhouse squared the ledger on Tuesday in winning the Melbourne Cup with Fiorente.

A life’s ambition has finally paid off, to follow in the footsteps of late father, Tommy Smith, who won the Cup twice.

Gai treated the Cup as unfinished business since she trained Te Akau Nick to finished second in 1993, and Nothin’Leica Dane two years later

The Melbourne Cup was like the last frontier to be conquered, she has won every other major race on the calendar, some twice or more, but that three handle Cup has been the elusive target, like one that got away.

Gai altered her normal pattern this year; she brought her main arsenal, in the form of Fiorente, to Melbourne much earlier than she had previously.

This time she had followed the pattern of her late father Tommy, he always said “the Cup is run at Flemington that is where we should be to prepare.”

He bought private stables up in Edinburgh Street, towards the Newmarket Station; his horses had to cross Ascot Vale and Epsom Roads, under the care Darcy Christie, on route to the Flemington stripping sheds.

Gai didn’t have the facilities her father had all those years ago, they are long gone, the next best thing was to arrive early at Flemington and allow her Cup favourite time to settle in to the new surroundings.

A lot has changed about Flemington with the on course stabling, but the environment has never changed, those long gallops that suits horses in their arduous preparation for the supreme test, Melbourne Cup.

Last year Fiorente hardly saw Flemington, except for running second in the Cup, all the preparatory work was completed at Werribee, which does not suit all stayers on a track resembling a saucer.

The long range plan was one autumn run, the All Aged Stakes, and then concentrate on the spring, the prime objective being the Melbourne Cup.

Gai played it to the letter as Tommy would have, she came down early with Fiorente, he did the rest, after a good run in the Memsie Stakes, at Caulfield, he soon had tongues wagging when he came from last on the home turn to win the Dato’Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley.

Many thought he’d had a hard run in the Cox Plate sitting outside of the leader for most of the way, Gai thought differently, again she was right.

The Melbourne Cup is now an international event; it is firmly implanted on the world stage, greatest 3200 metres (2 mile) handicap race on the planet.

Syndicates are already being arranged, millions are being invested on proven overseas horses, just to have a runner in the race, the list continues to grow.

Bloodstock agents here, and abroad, are having a field day, with an all expenses account, if they can just find that horse.

Overseas bred horses accounted for 19 starters in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup, that figure could even increase next year.

The first 10 horses in finishing order, all bred overseas, received the lion’s share from the purse of $6 million which amounted to $5,625,000.

Our major breeders, particularly those in New South Wales, are satisfied breeding fast precocious thoroughbreds, that are the demands of the market place, yearling sales remain solid, they always are, plus the obvious factor of a quick return.

Service fee, and the sale of yearlings, maintain the vast studs in Victoria and New South Wales.

Fiorente winning Melbourne Cup with Damian Oliver