At 50, Wellington-born Cassidy is at the height of his powers.
Nash Rawiller, Damien Oliver, now-retired Darren Beadman and Craig Williams are, or have been, world class jockeys.
Jockeys, but not with that freakish ability to get horses to do the seemingly impossible.
Cassidy is among the one-in-a-million who can do that.
It's been a rocky road with disqualifications along the way.
Urban legend has it that Bart Cummings was once asked for his opinion on Jim Cassidy: "A genius on horseback - needs a bit of help with his feet on the ground." The critical part of that statement - true or false - is that punters can only back Jim Cassidy when he's on horseback, and that's enough for them.
The larrikin in Cassidy may still be there is some small part, but essentially it has been replaced by an extremely thoughtful horseman.
Early Saturday, Waller told Cassidy not to be frightened to go back to the tail of the field with Zoustar, who had drawn 17.
"I thought about that all the way to the start and Chris' reasons for saying it and that gave me confidence to try it," said Cassidy.
Sitting four and five wide in a group one race takes courage and Zoustar picked up on that confidence when he launched after the leaders.
Cassidy has already won Melbourne Cups on Kiwi and Might And Power and looks in with a real shout this year with the Waller-trained Hawkspur, whose Chelmsford Stakes win in Sydney a week ago left little doubt he is on his way to Flemington.
Waller talks a lot about confidence in his horses, owners and jockeys.
But he's particularly confident when he has the man they call The Pumper in the saddle for him.
That's something you're likely to see a lot more of.
