Gai Waterhouse says the reality of winning her first Melbourne Cup after 20 years of trying hasn't really sunk in.

Fiorente gave Waterhouse her first Cup on Tuesday, 20 years after her first runner, Te Akau Nick, finished second.

"It's been non-stop and I think as it goes on, it sinks in more - the magnitude of it," Waterhouse said.

And while she is used to being recognised in the streets, she says people are looking at her "a thousand times more".

"It's a bigger experience personally because I have never had that experience before," she said.

She was also awed by the 104,000 people who thronged to Flemington on Tuesday to watch the race.

"I said to a couple of our overseas owners, where do you get a 100,000 people at a race track, you just don't see it anywhere in the world."

Winning jockey Damien Oliver's two daughters took his Melbourne Cup trophy to school for "show and tell".

"They were the stars of the show at assembly today and I think they will be very popular," Oliver said.

Waterhouse opened her Flemington stables on Wednesday morning where Fiorente posed with the trainer and the Cup he won so well.

The trainer and the owners are now mulling over options both locally and overseas for the seven-year-old.