If anyone embodies the Godolphin motto it is Saeed Bin Surour, the stable’s dedicated and long-serving head trainer. He is a hugely motivated individual who strongly supports the conviction which continually drives the operation – the impossible is possible.

How else can you explain the fact that they have been successful in 12 countries across four continents including Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, and the 62 Classic victories that they have amassed in Europe and the UAE.

In short, Godolphin are prepared to send their horses to run anywhere in the world when the opportunity rises.

Which brings us to this year’s Melbourne Cup, one of the most prestigious races in the world and the race that Godolphin are determined to win. For 16 years Godolphin has sent their best long-distance horses all the way from their England base in Newmarket, to challenge for Australia’s most famous race.

However, they have come back empty year after year.

But that does not worry people like Saeed who has been responsible for training top horses like Balanchine, Lammtarra, Daylami, Swain, Street Cry, Dubawi and the great Dubai Millennium.

He believes that he will find success Down Under sooner of later.

When I interviewed him at his office at the Godolphin Stables in Dubai Saeed made one thing very clear when I asked him about the quest to win the Melbourne Cup.

Leaning forward on his expansive mahogany desk and looking at me straight in the eye, he said: “It is the best race in the world over two miles and has always been one of our principal targets. It means a lot for me and the whole team to bring home the Melbourne Cup. We will never give up and will win it one day,”

The self-assurance that he displayed was almost like a flashbulb had exploded in my face. This was just a week prior to the Dubai World Cup, a race that he would go on to win for the seventh time in its history, with Prince Bishop.

In just over a month from now, Saeed will be once again packing his bags to make what has become almost an annual expedition to Melbourne. This time he relies on a stayer appropriately called Sky Hunter, a relatively lightly raced individual whose biggest success came in the Group 2 Dubai City of Gold at Meydan Racecourse, less than a mile from where they son of Motivator was meticulously trained by Saeed.

Sky Hunter announced himself as a Melbourne Cup candidate when delivering a commendable effort in his prep race at Newbury, where he returned from a six-month sabbatical to take the runner-up sport in the Dubai Duty Free Legacy Cup, where he had the beating of acclaimed sprinter Eagle Top.

The performance pleased Saeed immensely as Sky Hunter was far from full ready for a race having not visited a racecourse over the summer. But the break seemed to have done him a lot of good and he looked fresh, if a trifle out of condition, which Saeed liked.

The Emirati handler is extremely knowledgeable and will not put his horses into races that he believes they cannot win. Defeat is something else, and he knows that success is something that you never take for granted. Over the year’s he’s taken 20 horses to challenge for the Melbourne Cup since 1998 and the records show that they have all had their chances of winning, but were eventually beaten by a better set of horses.

To his credit he has come agonizingly close on three occasions with Central Park (1999), Give The Slip (2001) and Crime Scene (2009) finishing second. He still smiles when he talks about theses near misses.

So by the looks of it he deserves his day in the Melbourne sun. Will it come on November 3 when the whole of Australia comes to a stop for three minutes and approximately 30 seconds for the running of their greatest race.