Caviar Again. A nice way to finish the carnival

I think I will always like thinking about the last day of the 2010 Victorian Spring Racing Carnival.

The Patinack Farm Classic was billed as the clash of the spring with Black Caviar and Hay List meeting for the first time. RVL actually took out a full page add in the Herald Sun. It was great stuff, with the real stars, the horses, taking the headlines.

In the end, the clash did not end as was expected by many. The mare Black Caviar was astounding, whereas Hay List clearly didn't run to his best, fading in the straight. The colt Star Witness ran bravely, as did the mare Ortensia, for second and third respectively. We had eyes, however, only for Black Caviar, as she strode away from the field in all her glory. The young Ben Melham guided the mare in the absence of the suspended Luke Nolen, winning his first G1 in the process.

After they took the mare from the mounting yard, I thought 'to hell with the presentation, and aftermath shots' and so I marched off down the tunnel to get her being hosed down. It was about the horse, after all, not her trainer or young jockey. Best leave those staged images and shouts of 'hold the trophy up, give us a smile, give it a kiss, put your arm around him' to my friends and colleagues. I'm sure will do them better justice than I. It is the horse I want.

I admit to wanting to kiss Peter Moody when I read his comments in the papers the next morning!!! Because I was out the back with his horse, I missed all the post race interviews and comments. But this is what he said:

“Bugger the world,” Moody said. “Why can’t they come and take us on? They wouldn’t be game enough. If I entertained overseas, Dubai would be very attractive option but Hong Kong would be an option this time next year but we will enjoy the autumn here. We have just lost one great champion overseas so we’ll keep this one here for a while. She’ll put bums on seats if she stays unbeaten.”
After the heartbreak of losing So You Think, his 'bugger the world' statement was v good!! Thank you Peter!!!!!

And in a nice change, after deciding I really should pick my act up and making more of an effort on my appearance, I actually didn't get soaked. I also didn't get in trouble for breaching the stupid rope rules! It's a sad day in paradise when you begin toeing the line like that. Stupid thing! And we photographers had a bit of a joke about the rope people, and how it kept us, phootgraphers, now what was the term (fortunately it was said in jest, by one of our own), something like 'blood sucking sub-human scum' in order and in line!!!! Sometimes you have to make a laugh out of a situation to get through the day! I will say, however, that there were several v. nice security guards though looked for me each time I went in and out the gates, and shared the humour as I would again run out late saying 'someone's got to be last'.


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