KEY POINTS:
Many years ago on his 21st birthday, Chris Gibbs was in Sydney and called his father, master Matamata trainer Jim Gibbs.
"What do you want for a present?" asked the old man.
"A job in the stable," said his son.
It took three months to happen, but Chris Gibbs learned a lot under his father and trained in partnership.
He didn't imagine that one day that would lead to facing off across the Flemington birdcage with rival runners in a A$5 million ($5.75 million) Melbourne Cup.
Chris Gibbs and his training partners, Dean and Donna Logan, have Zabeat in today's Cup and Jim Gibbs will saddle Kerry O'Reilly.
Richard Yuill's Geelong Cup winner Mandela completes the New Zealand connection.
It's difficult to make a case that the New Zealanders can walk away with racing's greatest prize.
Zabeat, normally the most reliable of horses, had a shocker to finish last in Saturday's Saab Quality, a run that wouldn't have gained friends for a highweight at Dargaville.
The only reason he's running and his connections paid the A$41,000 acceptance fee on Saturday night is that the New Zealand veterinarian travelling with the team could find nothing wrong with the horse on Saturday night, says Donna Logan.
After his second in this year's Sydney Cup there were reasonable expectations that Zabeat could finish high up in the placings in the Melbourne Cup.
A win might have been stretching the imagination, but a placing was very possible.
After Saturday's performance, it is difficult to have an expectation.
Kerry O'Reilly is different.
His $1 million Kelt Capital Stakes second was terrific and it was no surprise that he failed to do well in the first week in Australia because he's always been a bad traveller.
He's doing better now, but his fourth behind Mandela in the Geelong Cup was just an okay run.
It certainly didn't excite 68-year-old Gibbs, who was happier to talk about retiring in two years than he was about the possibility of winning his second Melbourne Cup.
Jim Gibbs part-owned 1995 Melbourne Cup winner Doriemus, buying the horse cheaply as a yearling and selling 90 per cent of him to clients of Lee Freedman's stable after he won two races from three starts in New Zealand.
"I want to be retired in two years.
"I've only got 15 horses in work and I want to train only for my mates from this point."
Jim Gibbs will have a few of those if Cameron Lammas can guide the big bay to the line in front of his 23 rivals today.
Australian form analysts refuse to get excited about Mandela's Geelong Cup win.
That might be being a touch harsh. The conditions and racing pattern may have suited Mandela that day but a win's a win.
Horses don't win Melbourne Cups unless their trainers have them peaking at the right time.
Regardless of what you think of the Geelong speed map, Richard Yuill has done his job there.
The big race
* Flemington, 5pm today. Live TV3, Trackside.
