Moody grew up as the kid from the bush who called the tiny town of Wyandra, 10 hours' drive from Brisbane, home before heading to Sydney, then Melbourne to chase his dream of training racehorses.
Now things have come full circle, with the champion horseman teaming up with a fellow Queenslander, star gelding Incentivise, who is the raging Lexus Melbourne Cup favourite.
"I was born and raised in Queensland and proud of it, but I'm more proud to be an Aussie," Moody said.
"It probably adds to the fairytale a little bit, but it will add to it if he wins Tuesday, nothing before then."
If Incentivise can win 'the race that stops a nation', he'll become just the second Queensland horse to do so, after Macdougal won way back in 1959.
And it's not only Moody and connections who'll be cheering the Caulfield Cup-winning star around the two miles at Flemington on Tuesday, as Queensland-bred Incentivise will be carrying the hopes and dreams of the entire Toowoomba region.
"It'd be great for Toowoomba, the Darling Downs, a homegrown product, I'm sure they'll be extremely proud of him," Moody said.
"It'd be nice to see an Australian horse win it. Listen I'm proud to represent Queensland but at the end of the day we've still got to get the job done."
And if Incentivise does salute on Tuesday, will it be XXXX Gold and fish and chips again for 51-year-old Moody?
"Well, we might be allowed out to have a beer somewhere now," Moody said with a laugh.
"At the end of a huge day like that, it doesn't take much to knock me out now!"
