Vince Jones sat in front of the TV almost 25 years ago and bawled his eyes out.
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The race known for the rivers of bubbles and booze consumed by racegoers had triggered a flood from the eyes of the aspiring Melbourne Cup trainer, told by the owner of a horse all qualified for the race it would not be going.
"I remember watching the race at home with the wife and just having tears stream down my face," Jones said after 1991 City Tattersall's Cup winner Initial Approach was shielded from the race. "It was devastating."
Chances are you have never heard about Jones. And might not again.
Of the 42 horses still vying for a spot in this year's race is one trained out of Kempsey on NSW's mid-north coast. Double check and triple check. The grey Thunder Set is still there, propped up only by Darren Weir's Zanteca on the lowest rung.
Some will say it is just a gimmick - Sportsbet has subsidised Jones' Melbourne Cup acceptance fees at each stage - but this is for more than a quarter of a century of broken dreams. And what price a dream?
"Ever since I was seven years old all I ever wanted was a Melbourne Cup starter - not a winner - just a starter," Jones said. "And this is for all those people in the country who get up at silly hours in the morning to work with slow horses.
"We've got all these internationals coming over here each year now, but we need to show them that the little bloke in the country can still have a go."
This little bloke in the country, a former publican who works his best horse on stock routes around home, made a promise all those years ago he wouldn't set foot in Melbourne until he had a Cup runner.
And he hadn't been to Victoria until this week - "haven't even been here on a drive" - until floating Thunder Set, a recent benchmark 65 winner at Newcastle, down to Kyneton in preparation for Wednesday's Bendigo Cup.
An older half-brother to Gai Waterhouse's champion Pierro, who Jones laughs "fed his boy" from the amount of times he toppled satchel swingers during the stallion's racing career - "the bookmakers just kept putting prices up and I just kept backing him" - Thunder Set at least has the pedigree.
Win the Bendigo Cup and Jones can at least look forward to the possibility of a penalty. One kilogram or two kilograms ... it still won't be enough.
Anything short of a horse flu sweeping through millionaire's row at Werribee and crippling the likely record 11 internationally trained runners in this field is not going to be enough. But what harm is there dreaming?
"We might be able to get up into the high 20s [in ballot order with a penalty]," Jones said. "And then you never know."
This article first appeared in The Age
