General News
16 July, 2025
Legendary jockey blown away by the magic of the Melbourne Cup
Glen Boss says he's still wowed by people's reactions to seeing the iconic trophy.
Drinking beers at the Purple Pub and cheering on Queensland in the State of Origin – Glen Boss didn’t take long to win over the locals in Normanton.
The champion jockey, who rode Makybe Diva to three successive Melbourne Cup wins – the only pair to do it in the race’s 164-year history – was a massive hit in the Gulf community for the six days he spent there before returning home on Monday.
Boss was in Normanton as part of the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour, an annual event that sees the famous trophy traverse the globe to promote the race and the sport.
Last year it was down the road in Gregory, but this year it came to Carpentaria Shire after the council put in a successful application.
Amanda Farraway, the council’s executive manager of community development and tourism, said she used Normanton’s connection to racing – albeit bush sprints – as a lure to the Victoria Racing Club.
Boss, who grew up in country Queensland, said he had an affinity for sprint racing.
“My first ever winner was in a quarter horse sprint race in Gympie,” he told North West Weekly.
“I started in Gympie and I rode all through North Queensland as a kid. I’m talking 15-and-a-half, 16. But my first ever winner, trained by my former boss Terry Chinner, was a quarter horse.
“So there’s a real connection, you know.”
On Saturday, as the Normanton Rodeo committee put on a special event to welcome Boss and the Cup, the retired jockey got on a horse called Huffie, who was bred by Chinner.
“I haven’t been on a horse for a long time, other than doing a bit of cutting and a bit of campdrafting,” said Boss.
The 55-year-old said he wasn’t missing his time in the saddle and said opportunities to visit places like Normanton were too good to pass up.
“I’m a Queenslander, so when I’m up here it feels like I’m around my people,” he said.
“I mean, you go to the pub, you sit down with the locals and you just get straight into a conversation and it feels very natural
“I was just thinking, how more Queensland could it be than watching a decider at the Purple Pub with the locals?
“It doesn’t get more Queensland than that.
“It felt great. I was in my element – Queensland were winning – I was surrounded by the locals and I was off my tree, just having a ball.”
Boss said despite riding Makybe Diva to her last Melbourne Cup win 20 years ago, the champion mare and the prestigious trophy were still burned in the memories of many Australians.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m always taken aback when we pull the Cup out of its case and show it off,” he said.
“It’s like moths to a flame.
“Everyone’s got a story about where they were, what horse they backed ... everyone’s got a story around the Melbourne Cup and so it’s nice to listen to their reflections or their stories.”
Boss said while the Melbourne Cup was still the country’s biggest race and drew millions of eyeballs each year, there was work to do to ensure it remains a staple of the Australian social calendar.
“I think the Melbourne Cup Tour is probably one of the most significant advertisements for the race,” he said.
“It’s not just the people who have memories of it, it’s the younger people who are drawn to it as well. You take it to schools, you listen to kids, you tell them about the history of the race, you tell them what the actual cup itself is worth, and it catches their imagination straight away.
“I don’t think there’s another race in the world that actually does this type of tour.”
Boss said he owed much of his career to the Melbourne Cup.
“It changed my life,” he said.
“Before winning the first one, I remember very clearly a year or two before I ran second and just got beat.
“At that moment I realised how important this race was because I was physically ill after the event, just because I thought I was gonna win the Cup and I just got beat on the line.
“It took me about a couple of months to get over because I had nightmares about what could I have done differently.
“I was so fortunate that the great athlete Makybe Diva walked into my life a couple of years later.”
The legendary jockey also paid tribute to retired North West hoop Keith Ballard while in Normanton.
“To do what he did was huge,” he said of the 71-year-old, who rode more than 1700 winners.
“I sent a video to Keith when he retired – a couple of the boys did some videos – and what a career!
“Honestly, I retired at 52 and I’d had enough.”