Racing: Back for a lucky break at the races

By MIKE DILLON in Melbourne

Glen Boss remembers lying on the ground in Macau thinking about his family.

He had just broken his neck in a race fall, and knew he was in serious trouble.

Eighteen months later he achieved his lifetime ambition by winning today's A$4 million Melbourne Cup on Makybe Diva.

"I had broken the C2 vertebra, the same one [actor] Christopher Reeve broke, and you can imagine how I felt.

"All I wanted to do was get to my family and, I have to admit, even at that stage I was thinking about how quickly I could get back in the saddle."

In the saddle is different to winning a Melbourne Cup.

Boss had a stroke of luck - one of the world's best neurosurgeons was in town that week.

"They told me I was 4mm away from total paralysis or death.

"It could have gone either way, and fortunately it went the right way.

"The 4mm sounds very little, but in that context it's quite a lot."

Boss can't believe he has achieved total health and Melbourne Cup triumph.

It is a long way from the gloom he felt when he knew he had slaughtered the ride on Champagne after the Cambridge mare finished a close second to fellow New Zealander Jezabeel in the 1998 cup race.

Champagne was a last-minute engagement for Boss.

Not knowing the mare, he made his run too soon. He hit the front inside 70 metres, but was then nosed out.

Apologising to trainer Laurie Laxon, he said Champagne would have won if he had known her better.

This time, he had a dream run.

It looked bad for punters when Makybe Diva was buried in what looked to be a hopeless position back on the rails to the home turn.

But Boss said he couldn't stop himself smiling during the race.

"I sat down 24 hours earlier with David [Hall] and owner Tony Santic and we agreed she should be ridden quietly.

"David said, 'Don't get flushed out wide.'

"It might have looked bad where I was, but I knew that when I pushed the button she would fly.

"She got her head up high early, but the two of us had a bit of a talk and once she brought it down I could not have been happier. By the time we got to the 600m, I was all smiles and teeth."

Luck's worth a fortune when Boss thinks back over five years.

There should have been a niggling doubt in his mind last night, but there wasn't.

Specialists told him he was crazy going back to riding only four months after his Macau accident.

"If there's a price to pay later, I'll pay it. But I've just won the Melbourne Cup - I'm sure as hell not worried about it right now."