``It's unbelievable!'' he said.

``It's still a bit surreal at the moment and there really hasn't been time to think about it yet. There's been a lot of parties and celebrations. It's an unreal feeling.''

It was a dream come true for the father-of-three who in last year's Cup ran second on Bauer in a photo finish with Viewed. This year was his ninth Cup race.

``To run second in a Melbourne Cup was great but to get that first place, especially when it was so close last year, is just awesome,'' he said.

He wasn't even booked to ride Shocking, a five-year-old stallion. He had been scheduled to ride Vigor.

``I didn't think Vigor would get a run and there hadn't been a jockey booked in to ride Shocking so I asked Shocking's trainer Mark Kavanagh to wait and see what happened with Vigor,'' he said. ``In the end Vigor didn't end up racing and I was lucky to ride Shocking.

``It worked out well. If I never got to ride Shocking I wouldn't have even raced.''

He had expected Shocking to race well.

``He drew an awkward barrier and had a really tough run but from 300 metres on I always knew I was the winner,'' he said.

``You can't really explain what's going through your mind at that time. It's a lot of nothing. I just thought `Thank God, I won!'''

In Melbourne Cup racing week, he won three out of four major races the Victoria Derby, the Melbourne Cup and then at the Emirates Stakes and was the first jockey to ever achieve such a feat.

Last week, he and his wife Kylie visited The Hills Grammar School, Kenthurst, to show the trophy and his golden Wirths whip to year 1 pupils. His daughters Charlie, 10, and Holli, 7, attend the school. Eldest daughter Maddy, 13, attends Rouse Hill High.