News

Black Caviar preparing for return to track

7th Sep 2011

ABC South West Victoria - Brigid Donovan - Monday, 5 September 2011

Melbourne Rehabilitation horse trainer Peter Clarke led "The Princess" off the horse truck and mentioned casually that her friends were looking forward to seeing her after a long absence.

Black Caviar had just arrived at her health camp in central Victoria as part of her preparation for her next onslaught on the Australian horse racing scene next month.

Although Black Caviar is nicknamed Nelly at her trainer Peter Moody’s stables at Caulfield in Melbourne, Clarke reckons the name does not do her justice when she is doing her pre-conditioning work on his farm.

Imagine our surprise when he opened the gate to her paddock and reunited the champion racehorse with a 28-year-old pony and a fat billy goat.

Racing people are a superstitious lot and Clarke says goats not only bring good luck to a property but they have a calming effect on horses.

"They've missed her while she's been away," he said.

Black Caviar's last race in Brisbane in May was her 13th and she has never tasted defeat.

Tonight's Australian Story is the first time in the program's 15-year history that it features a non-human as the main subject.

"When she runs now it's a national event, and this is what Phar Lap achieved; he put together 14 consecutive wins," said ABC sports commentator Gerard Whateley.

"Black Caviar currently stands at 13, but there's something different - she's never been beaten."

Cloak and dagger

As Black Caviar’s star has risen, so has her fan club. She has her own manager and the public interest in her is intense.

Moody recalled the effect she has had on the non-racing public when he took her for a swim in Queensland earlier this year.

"This woman drove about 20 miles out of her way to follow me to Nudgee Beach and stand in water up to her waist in her underwear so she could pat this horse," Moody said.

Moody's transport driver Peter Courtney had to use cloak-and-dagger techniques to keep the media at bay when he stayed overnight with Black Caviar at Dubbo on the way from Melbourne to Queensland.

However Courtney said he occasionally revealed the contents of his precious cargo when he thought it was appropriate.

He recalls stopping at a petrol station to fill up the horse truck and an elderly gentleman got out of his caravan and quietly approached him to ask if the famous horse was inside.

"I thought he looked harmless, so I told him yes, she was at the back, and he asked if he could just touch the outside of the truck where she was so he could tell people he got that close to Black Caviar," Courtney said.

Exclusive access

Australian Story has been following Black Caviar’s progress for the past five weeks and had exclusive filming access to where it all began.

Her breeder Rick Jamieson was not exaggerating when he said the property where Black Caviar was born, on the Goulburn Valley River at Nagambie, Victoria, was the prettiest you would ever see.

No expense has been spared on the stable complex, post and rail fencing, and the well-being of the horses. The nine-hole golf course on the property has flags the familiar colours of salmon with black dots as a tribute to the great mare.

Former vet nurse and now horse manager at Gilgai Farm, Meaghan Strickland-Wood, was there when unraced mare Helsinge had her first foal in 2006.

"Back in 2006 at 5.20 in the morning we had a very special foal and it was Black Caviar," she said.

Jamieson said there was no set rule when it came to breeding a champion.

"I just started to plot pedigrees, and particularly pedigrees of champion racehorses, and I started to formulate my own ideas on breeding," he said.

"The best mating I came up with was pretty much a new stallion called Bel Esprit. The dam of BC is a beautiful mare, Helsinge; everything about her is just perfect really."

She was the best filly of that year born on the stud and Jamieson had a high reserve of $100,000 on her when she was sold 18 months later for $210,000.

Love at first sight

Enter one of Australia's leading horse trainers, Moody; it was love at first sight when he saw her at the Inglis Sales at Oaklands, Melbourne, in March 2008.

"She just had a presence about her, an action about her. Every time she took a stride, every part of her body moves," he said.

"It's like walking down the beach and seeing certain parts of someone's anatomy wiggle or that and you just can't help yourself, you've got to turn round and have a look."

Moody rang around prospective owners and fortunately for one of his clients, Neil Werrett, he picked up the phone.

The Sydney businessman and his Melbourne based-friends have holidayed together every year for 20 years. They decided over a few drinks that they would all contribute to a racehorse.

"I said we only want a fast one, so they took me at my word," said part-owner Pam Hawkes.

"We put in so that we could cover the training fees for the year, and we put in $35,000, probably because of the usual thing if horses don't usually win and it's less painful if you just sort of pay at the beginning."

So far Black Caviar has won around $3.5 million.

For the next few weeks The Princess will continue her daily exercise on the water walker and treadmill at Clarke’s farm and enjoy the company of her farmyard friends.

She will then return to the serious end of track work training at Moody’s stables before her first run this spring scheduled for Caulfield on October 8.

Australian Story presented Paint The Town Black on Monday 5th September 2011 at 8pm on ABC1. Replay can he seen HERE