Black Caviar - Hailing the Queen.. 17 Straight..

They came in their thousands to Moonee Valley Racecourse on the evening of Friday 27 January.  The occasion?  The G2 Australia Stakes.  This event would usually draw a modest crowd, and scant attention from the media.  Why?  What else could it be?  The Queen of the Australian, indeed the world Turf, Black Caviar, or Nelly as we call her, was racing for the first time in 2012.

You knew something was up when we all started turning up in the press room around 5pm.  Almost a full 2 hours before the first race.  And the crowd swelled and grew larger and larger as the evening progressed.  We began to hear whispers that the traffic was heavy in all directions surrounding the track.  And then that the queues of the public trying to get in the course stretched all the way up to Puckle Street, some 800m.  Later I learnt that the MVRC threw open the gates and allowed people in for free, for fear people would be stranded outside the course when the mighty mare faced the starter.

Incredibly the Club ran out of racebooks, and apparently plastic drinking cups?  We were certainly aware of the racebook shortage, as one of my good friends Gary Wild, a fellow photographer, arrived late after having first to go to the the trots at Melton, and we couldn't find him a racebook for love nor money.  Happily he found a discarded one late in the evening, which amazingly was in pristine condition!

Children and adults were dressed in an array of Caviar clothing.  There were flags everywhere, and the walking ring up near the wash bay was packed with people watching a strong looking dark brown mare who was wearing that distinctive blue Moody headpiece and being walked around in the hour leading up to the race.   A few lucky fans got to have their photograph taken with the great horse, as the stable staff are kind and accommodating.  Her face and eyes soften when a child was involved, as she did with my own children Heath and Jessica that day in October, and she leans into them gently.  She is a large mare, and many people are intimated by the sheer size of a horse, and this young boy was clearly not at ease, but Nelly did her absolute best to reassure him that all was well.  You could see the excitement in his face though, and as for his father, well, he was well and truly beaming.  With good cause!

 

 

 

  

By the time her race rolled around, as always, my nerves were growing.  It just feels like a lot of pressure, to do her justice, to be somewhere that the photographs would do her justice.  The light was tricky.  It wasn't yet dark enough to look like a night meeting, and there were potentially disastrous backlighting issues, yet the light wasn't strong, but because it wasn't yet dark the track lights weren't taking any effect.  The roar of the crowd as Nelly came onto the track reached it's usual fever pitch, and swelled when she did her cantering parade past her adoring public.  

"Black Caviar - Made in Victoria".  "Black Caviar - London Calling".  "Black Caviar - Australia today ...  tomorrow the world".  Homage to the horse.  I love it.  You can keep your fashion and ditzy women advertising campaigns.  This is what it is all about.  The love of a horse....

 

Then the horses were in the barrier, and before you knew it, they, along with the roar of the crowd that was akin to a Cox Plate at the Valley, the huge mare swept past her rivals and thundered past us.  

She is breath-taking.  In all her power and glory, she sweeps down the home straight.

 

 

 

 

 

Nelly and Donna

 

 

Yes, I know, I should have stayed in the mounting yard and photographed the presentation, and all her wonderful and warm owners.  I'm sorry for leaving, and following the Pony.   Tis a v bad habit of mine....  But I do love her dearly...