Born: December 23, 1956.

Mark Kavanagh rode three Melbourne Cup winners before racing became his job; while in short pants, in fact.

Kavanagh was no child prodigy, rather his mother was a good cook _ she fed the staff next door to the Kavanagh family home in Glenelg, and the neighbour just happened to be now legendary trainer Bart Cummings.

So as a kid getting under feet and hooves at the stables, Mark sat on Light Fingers, Galilee and Red Handed, Cup winners from 1965-67.

Kavanagh graduated to riding in jumps races and then to training, and he now has stables at Flemington and Morphettville. He runs the 26 boxes in Melbourne with foreman Merv Harvey and son Sam (22) is in charge of the 39-box Adelaide yard.

"I've always dreamed, 'M.A. Kavanagh, Flemington'. It's been in the back of my mind for a long time," he said just after the move made in March, 2007. "We've always had a horse that could win in Melbourne, but it would be ridiculous to come without the right stuff to set you off.

"Several Adelaide trainers have come over here and had a crack but didn't have the right horses and went home with their tails between their legs ... we had to wait until we had the right stuff."

The upgrade came after three Group 1 wins - Hard To Get (2004 Adelaide Cup at Morphettville), Undoubtedly (2005 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield) and Divine Madonna (2006 Emirates Stakes at Flemington) and was the key act in the rise and rise of an ambitious man.

Kavanagh said his time as a jumps jockey was preparation for training. "I was all right at it,'' he said of a dozen years that yielded 96 wins, but you can't get fat riding over jumps. (As a trainer) you can afford sauce on your pie if you're going all right.

"Mate, I put me balls on the line to start training," he said. "I was just a country (Mt Gambier) jumping jockey and I borrowed a lot of money to buy a farm and done it up and made it look pretty cute.

"And I borrowed a lot of money to buy my first set of stables in Adelaide; borrowed a hell of a lot of money to buy the second (bigger) lot of stables in Adelaide. I've put my balls on the line again to come over here (to Melbourne) and have a crack. At this stage, I've had a bit of a bet on myself and I'm winning."

The wins have multiplied, and after Maldivian's heist of the Cox Plate in 2008 the Group 1 tally had grown to 10. Big Mal had been winless since the Group 1 2007 Yalumba Stakes at Caulfield, just a week before he was favourite in the Caulfield Cup - he didn't start, however, his bloodied photo on front pages throughout Australia told why:  he had slashed his neck on a camera support in his gate.

Maldivian's ninth in the 2008 Caulfield Cup convinced Kavanagh that the Zabeel gelding could not stay, and the first-time use of blinkers after an early-morning sharpen-up over jumps led to the win in Australia's weight-for-age championship, aided and abetted by stable jockey Michael Rodd's super pace-setting ride.

The $195,000 yearling's earnings (he was bought by Kavanagh at the 2004 Australian Easter sale) zoomed past $2.5 million with the win and provided perfect, albeit delayed, recompense for the classy way Kavanagh and owner Joe Ricciardo took the disappointment of the Caulfield barrier mishap.

Divine Madonna followed her Adelaide-based group 1 win with three more from Flemington before she was retired because of injury one start into her 2008 autumn campaign.

"With my wife (Isobel) being a part-owner, it makes me feel a lot better," Kavanagh quipped after she was bought by Darley at the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale mid-year. "We're delighted with the price - it's not often you can turn $80,000 into $2.7 million - and grab another two (million) in prizemoney along the way." He had bought the daughter of Hurricane Sky and My Madonna, by Prego, at the 2004 Magic Millions sale in Adelaide for $82,500.

Kavanagh's big-race strike rate has been phenomenal with such a small team, testament to his buying eye as well as his training skills. The industry, as well as the media, recognised his achievement when he won Victoria's Fred Hoysted Medal for 2007-2008.

The other big group 1 successes for the season were Devil Moon (Turnbull Stakes) and Divine Madonna's double (the Toorak Handicap and the Myer Classic). After the divine Miss M's 2006-2007 wins in the Emirates and Sydney's Queen Of The Turf Stakes, she surely had earned her tag as Australia's best miler of her generation.

The trainer quickly found a new "best" for the new season, Street Cry gelding Whobegotyou astonishing punters with the ease of his wins in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas and Group 2 AAMI Vase at Moonee Valley in October on his way to the Victoria Derby.

Kavanagh has taken more than 15 years to become an overnight success in the tough business of training since he took the plunge at Mt Gambier in 1991 after "countless" falls over the obstacles - he did not ride on the flat. He was leading trainer in the South East District Racing Association in 1992-1993, his first full season, and again the following season.

His success with Red Hope, a George Hanlon cast-off, was an early indication that he could make a good horse - the chestnut won 15 races for Kavanagh, including the Hilton On The Park Sprint at Flemington during the 1995 Melbourne Cup carnival. He has repeated the model with one of his latest stars, the Quest For Fame stallion Sea Battle, transferred to him after 11 runs for Guy Walter in NSW and one for Tony Noonan in Victoria. A 2-12 record has grown to 8-25, including the Group 2 Jayco Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley.

After opening a satellite stable in Adelaide, Kavanagh moved there in 2000, and in 2003 bought and renovated his present Morphettville yard. When Hard To Get, also owned by Ricciardo, won the SAJC Derby the trainer said he was happy to be an Adelaide trainer, but it was not long until a base at racing's Victorian headquarters proved irresistible.

Flemington is the best address in Australia, probably the southern hemisphere, one of the best in the world,'' he said.

Stables: Flemington and Morphettville.

Colours: royal blue, black and white checked sash and cap

First winner: Celestial Guide, Donald maiden, June 28, 1991.

First Group 1 winner: Hard To Get, SAJC Derby, Morphettville, May 15, 2004.

Group 1 wins (to October 31, 2008): 10.