People always ask me why I like coming to Melbourne so much, and it is an easy question to answer. Melbourne is one of the world's most beautiful cities -- and it has superb racing.

The city is very clean, the people so friendly and helpful. It is a high-quality living environment.

I have been a regular visitor to the Emirates Melbourne Cup Carnival for nearly 20 years. In that time, Godolphin horses that I trained have gone very close to winning the big one, the G1 Melbourne Cup.

Central Park, Give The Slip, Crime Scene -- they all finished second. Beekeeper finished third. You feel happy that they ran so well, yet frustrated that you have not landed the big prize. We will keep trying until we do win the Cup. Then, I am sure, we will want to win it again.

There is no doubt the Melbourne Cup is the best two-mile (3,200m) race in the world, and to win it, you must have a horse with class, stamina and speed. And, as we in racing know, that is very hard to find in the one horse.

At Godolphin, we have won the Ascot Gold Cup five times -- it is His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's favourite race at the Royal meeting in the UK -- yet the Melbourne Cup is a different job.

Over the years, I have found that you have to let the horses ear-marked for Australia have a break during the summer in Europe. They cannot keep racing the entire season. If they have a break, they can come to Australia fresh and ready.

The bottom line to all this is that the horses you choose for Australia must be quality horses.

Even though we are yet to win the Cup, there are already so many memories. Give The Slip was the one I thought should probably have won. I was confident Kayf Tara could do it for us. He was a dual Gold Cup winner at Ascot. But, also, he was unsound, and he never made it to the race.

The two Cup runners from my stable this year both have that quality and class I mentioned previously. Beautiful Romance finished third in the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket (UK) as a three-year-old and won the G2 Middleton Stakes, beating two very good fillies, at York last May.

She has run twice since in high class races -- and she comes to Melbourne fresh and ready.

Secret Number has been very lightly raced but is progressing well, physically and mentally. He came to Melbourne for the Cup last year and failed to get into the field. But he finished second to Dandino in the G3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on the Final Day.

His only run since resulted in a win at Ayr, Scotland, in the Listed Doonside Cup.

I expect both Beautiful Romance and Secret Number to be spot on for Cup Day. All we need now is some luck.