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Makybe Diva was the champion mare who set the standard before Winx and Black Caviar.

The incredible, mould-breaking mare won the hearts of the nation and added the most fantastic chapter of all to the story of Australia’s greatest race the Melbourne Cup when she won the famous Flemington event an amazing three years in succession.

Her feat to seize worldwide attention during the spring of 2005 when she completed her Cup hat-trick remains deeply etched in the nation’s folklore.

Her story, written by acclaimed racing author Trevor Marshallsea, will be published by Harper Collins in July with the release of his latest book ‘Makybe Diva’.

The book is based on Marshallsea’s extensive interviews and research and tells the exciting story of an incredible horse and the evolution of the Melbourne Cup to become the race that stops the nation.

Marshallsea is a much-travelled author, journalist and racing lover.

From his first job as a racing journalist he became AAP’s foreign correspondent in Beijing and London along with stints in Canada and Hobart.

After six years as chief cricket writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, and several years as a freelance writer, humorist, screenwriter and frustrated punter, he returned to his first love, co-authoring the autobiography of Black Caviar’s trainer Peter Moody, ‘A Long Way from Wyandra’ and authoring the bestselling ‘Winx: Biography of a Champion’.