There are a handful of names that are synonymous with Australia’s most famous horse race, the Melbourne Cup.

Trainer Bart Cummings, owner Lloyd Williams, and jockeys including Glen Boss, Harry White, Kerrin McEvoy and Damien Oliver.

But few people embody the spirit and excitement of “the race that stops a nation” more than Wayne Harris.

The former jockey who rode 35 group one winners over a storied career wrote his name into Australian sporting folklore as a Melbourne Cup winner in 1994.

Thirty years on from his most memorable win, the man from Muswellbrook in New South Wales says he can remember the race as if it was run yesterday. 

“It was 30 years ago now, but I remember every blade of grass I went over to achieve something like that,” he tells ABC Sport.

“As soon as I straightened up, there was a run there, and it was closing.

“If I’d have stayed where I was, I don’t run a place. I had to let him have a bit of rein and he got through.”

The win was described by Harris as life-changing, but in his moment of glory, he was thinking of others. 

Harris battled health issues throughout his life, including brain tumours while he was an apprentice jockey. 

And in the lead-up to the 1994 race, Harris received a letter from the mother of 12-year-old Andrew Read.

Young Andrew was also had brain tumours and the letter began a correspondence between the jockey and the 12-year-old. 

After winning the cup, Harris dedicated the triumph to Andrew.

“I was going to try to meet up with him the day before the cup, and as happens, I had a lot of media to catch up with, and also I had to lose weight,” he said.

“So I’d spoke to him the night before. I said, ‘Look, sorry I couldn’t get down to see you, but I win tomorrow … I’ll dedicate it to you.’

“He was only about 12 years old at the time, and he’d been suffering from the brain tumours, and hoping I could give him a little bit of a spurt along.”

The jockey said he did not intend for the remark to be something remembered 30 years on. 

But it was an insight into the man who often tried to use the race, and his place in its history, as a way to lift those doing it tough.

After retirement, Harris became an ambassador for the race which allowed him to travel the country with the cup itself. 

From primary schools to aged care facilities, Harris, along with many other ambassadors, tried to bring the magic of the cup to every corner of the country.

“I know we take it to schools, hospitals, aged homes, and [to] people who would probably never, ever get to go to the Melbourne Cup, and may never get to watch it on TV,” he said. 

“Being a parent myself and having spent time in hospitals with sick children is nothing worse, I don’t think. And the parents just get a thrill out of it as well.

“I’ve travelled all around Australia, and just to see the glee in people’s eyes — and they don’t believe it’s actually the Melbourne Cup for that year.”

Harris’ career as a jockey ended prematurely.

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Less than two years after his triumph he had to call it a day, with health issues taking away his ability to ride.

He made a comeback, and although it was short-lived, Harris describes overcoming those issues to ride again in the mid-1990s as one of his greatest achievements. 

The fact that his horse riding days are behind him has not taken away his love of the event. 

When the first Tuesday in November rolls around, Harris hopes no-one can find him. 

He said he enjoys being able to watch the race on his own, enjoying the famous race that he can claim to have conquered.

“It excites me greatly, and you know someone’s going to get the thrill that I had.

“But I always try to go and watch a cup in a quiet spot where I can just, you know, get to take it all in.

“It’s just nice to be having that little bit of time on your own, that you can take it all in and have your memories with you as well.”