“He said just come back to Sydney and if it doesn’t work at least you had a crack at it.

“He was pretty adamant about it, and that I had something left in me.

“I didn’t see it in myself.”

Prior had just started managing jockeys and admitted to being a little in awe of Boss.

“I watched him at school win on Makybe Diva. He was a superstar,” Prior said. “He could still be that superstar, I thought. He just had to commit to getting back there.

“He has done it all himself. I just helped where I could.”

Boss says Prior made him believe again and get focused.

“He gave me a new lease of life,” Boss said. “I have had a lot of good agents in my career; this bloke's care factor for me is unbelievable. We treat each other like brothers.

“My successes are his.”

The close link was shown with an emotional embrace after The Everest victory last year, which was Boss’s first big success after his return.

That was followed by Kolding in the Golden Eagle and five group 1 wins, including Sir Dragonet in the Cox Plate a couple of weeks ago, which has the jockey believing another Melbourne Cup is in the offering.

“Without a doubt, this is the best Melbourne Cup ride I have had since Makybe Diva,” Boss said. “He gave me the feel like he wants two miles in the Cox Plate.

“He was getting stronger through the line. He put a gap in those other horses in the last 100m, and he was actually only hitting top speed as I hit the turn [out of the straight].

“That was pretty cool. He is going to be much better at Flemington.

“I’m very confident that he will be running out the trip, and he’ll run one hell of a race.

“It is not something I thought I would be doing when I came back. It would have been more of a dream back then.”

Boss is well aware of the Makybe Diva factor on his career and wants to get back to the pinnacle of Australian racing.

"Everyone remembers where they were for Makybe Diva. I play golf with some younger blokes today and they tell me about being at school on that day," Boss said.

"It feels like it was five years ago rather than 15 to me, and I think Sir Dragonet could take me back there again."

Boss had never been forgotten in Australia, but when he flew in from Singapore to win the Doncaster on Brutal in 2019 he looked like an old man, with a beard flecked grey.

“Singapore was a disaster for me,” Boss recalled. “I fell into the trap of golf, drink, ride on the weekends. Golf, drink, ride on the weekends.

“That’s all I did. It was a lot of fun for little while, but I never want to go back there.”

Boss has been about winning his whole career and, once he got back to Australia, he wanted to back at the top.

He gave away drinking and committed to a fitness campaign, and it showed on the track.

"I said to myself 'if I’m coming back to Sydney I have to do everything right'. I had to be physically and mentally switched on,” Boss said.

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"I hooked up with Trent Langlands, my trainer, and we went flat out. I got my body and mind right. You can see that in my riding.

“I just got that fire back in my belly, and when you got that you walk to the beat of a different drum and you carry yourself a bit differently.

“You look at things a bit different and you project a different vibe, and everyone feels it and sees it.

“I wouldn’t have believed anyone if they told me I could win the races I have in the last 18 months. It has just been crazy.”

Boss can only see one danger in the Melbourne Cup to Sir Dragonet: Irish raider Anthony Van Dyck.

"There are two form races in Australia and they are the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate," Boss said.

"You have got to trust your eye a bit in these races, and I think there is one horse to beat and that’s Anthony Van Dyck.

"We have never seen an English Derby winner come to Australia, and I said to Hughie Bowman after that horse ran in the Caulfield Cup, 'well there's you're Melbourne Cup winner mate'.

"That was before I got on my horse."