Gun for hire Joao Moreira, who almost gave away his ambition to be jockey because he struggled to be accepted into a jockeys’ school in Brazil, is ready to live a dream with Signoff in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

Things have a way of falling into place for the humble Moreira, who has longed to be at Flemington on Cup day since his days riding in Singapore. Saturday’s Lexus Stakes provided him with another winner in Signoff and the chance of a Cup ride.

‘‘I had to wait until the last minute to get a ride and I have ended up getting a good one,’’ he said.

‘‘I didn’t just dream to ride in it and I dreamed of winning it. My chance is there, my horse has just won and if he is able to recover quickly, he will be there again on Tuesday.’’

That is Moreira, a driven jockey, who left home at 16 with a burning desire to win. 

He will ride in front of more than 100,000 at Flemington, which is a long way from working the stables in Brazil as a teenager where he initially couldn’t get an apprenticeship.     

‘‘I loved horses from when I was very young. So when my cousin asked me to work with him [in Rio de Janeiro], I started work at the stables in 1998 [aged 14],’’ Moreira recalled.

‘‘Two years later, I had a little bit of trouble getting into the jockeys’ academy [in Rio]. My name was down but they take one-by-one and then my name came up.

‘‘So I went home and changed and came back and the master of the jockey academy said ‘Sorry, your place was just taken by somebody else’.

‘‘I worked for another six months; I was about to give up. My trainer sent me to Sao Paulo. While I was there a jockey from the same state as me told me I should be trying in Sao Paulo. 

‘‘The first six, eight months riding it was extremely bad. Then it turned.

‘‘I got my jockey’s licence in 2003 and from there on I have never stepped backwards, but I always want to improve some more.’’

A decade later Moreira has ridden around the world and established himself in the top echelon of jockeys. 

He dominated the Singapore scene, winning the jockeys’ title on four occasions before moving to Hong Kong last year.

He has used Hong Kong as his base and has started to become a regular in Australia during this spring, winning the Epsom on He’s Your Man and steering Brazen Beau in the Coolmore Stud Stakes on Saturday.

He is looking forward to possibly adding a Melbourne Cup on Signoff, which he will ride a half-kilogram over his handicap of 51kg.

‘‘The horse himself is very nice and I believe I will be right there with him.’’