News

Black Caviar captivates Caulfield in Australian return

3rd Feb 2013

Herald Sun - Greg McFarlane - Sunday, 3 February 2013

FOR Peter Moody, it wasn't about time. It was all about temperament.

And after watching Black Caviar push herself through one of the most publicised exhibition gallops in Australian racing, along with a big gathering of fans, racing aficionados and even a racegoer who had flown in from the US, the trainer had little doubt that his champion was back in town. Literally.

In her first major public performance since a courageously nail-biting Golden Jubilee win at Royal Ascot 224 days ago, the majestic mare yesterday charmed Caulfield - her home track.

Importantly, she convinced her trainer and connections that the problems she experienced in England were now half a world away.

"I was just pleased to see she wanted to be here," Moody said after Black Caviar worked home strongly over 800m at just a tick over 44 seconds.

"The last time we saw her at Royal Ascot, she wasn't (happy). She was off the boil, swishing her tail and turning her head. And as you saw (yesterday) she is bright, healthy and happy. Even in her gallop, I was pleasantly surprised how kind she was to Luke (Nolen).

"I thought she might flick her head and want to run through the bridle. But they clicked straight away like they had been sleeping together every night."

Twenty two wins have been ticked off.

Win 23 beckons in 13 days' time in the race named after her - the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington - with Moody saying he will not make any decision on the pathway for the world's greatest sprinter until after the race she has already won twice.

The 32-week break has done the horse a world of good, with Moody joking: "If I had eight months off, I'd be a bit bigger around the girth, too."

But even if Black Caviar still has a few kilos to shed before her February 16 racetrack return, Moody said she was in outstanding order at the moment.

"The wear and tear she was suffering in her preparations has disappeared," he said.

"Her feet are growing out nice, her muscles are great, in her knees and joints she is not carrying any heat. That will come back, (when) you have a 600-kilo horse running at the speed she runs.

"This scares me a little, but this is the best she has prepped up for a couple of years. She really wants to be here."

And while the crowd at Caulfield wasn't as big as some had forecast, the crush of people charting her every move wanted her to be there as well.

When the gates opened at 11am yesterday, many made a bee-line for stall 14, where Black Caviar was supposed to be. She didn't arrive on track until 1.10pm, making the few hundred metres stroll from the adjoining Moody stables to find an army of supporters waiting patiently for her.

For a moment, it looked as if she wanted to go incognito. She diverted into a stall a few down from where the congregation had gathered. But her distinctive brand and her big backside gave her away. Some of those watching her saw it as an omen and backed the horse whose stall she had briefly sidled into.

Sure enough, it won. It was Moody's three-year-old gelding Royal Haunt, who is now unbeaten after three starts - now only 19 behind Black Caviar.

Black Caviar's fans were many and varied - the old and the young, the hard-nosed turf types and the racing romantics.

Toddlers and teenagers were decked out in salmon and black dots, men in suits with ties matching the colours and women with similar splashes in their dresses carried Black Caviar flags.

Even those with a long history in racing wanted to see her up close and personal, even though they have had the pleasure of doing it many times before.

Glen Boss, who partnered another mighty mare Makybe Diva to three successive Melbourne Cups, made a point of heading out to the rail to watch as Black Caviar went through her paces. He's seen too much of her backside in the past.

Veteran racecaller Bryan Martin called it "unprecedented" that a track gallop could muster such interest, saying even his four-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte, has a passion for Black Caviar.

And respected wordsmith, journalist and author Les Carlyon drove to Caulfield yesterday and didn't watch a race. All he wanted was to see how the mare was.

"She looks great, but she still a few kilos to lose," Carlyon said.

"When I came into the course there was an older couple coming through the gates. The wife said to the person on the gate, 'What stall is SHE in? She didn't need to mention any names. He knew exactly what she meant'."

It was that sort of day. Seventy eight horses contested eight races - more than a few bluebloods mixed in with some "bread and butter" horses - but there was only one star that mattered in the constellation at Caulfield.

By the time she ventured out onto the track, Black Caviar (who sold for $210,000 at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale in 2008) had been clicked in thousands of photos and it all came with a fitting tribute to the champion that was shown on the big screen before her gallop.

The timing of the Royal Ascot finish wasn't exactly to Luke Nolen's liking. As he walked out to the mounting yard in those famous silks, the vision showed a battling Black Caviar in the only vulnerable moment of her racing life.

Nolen offered up an expletive as he watched and then smiled.

There was no vulnerability a few minutes later when he jumped off the horse of his lifetime with the look of a contented man.

And Moody summed it up best after the gallop: "She is amazing horse and she has done amazing things for this sport."