From the Tram

We are at Murchison.  We've had the most wonderful afternoon and evening with my dear friends the Clarkes.  The kids and I are sleeping in Marg's renovated and restored Tram.  Yes.  It's an actual Tram!  

Yes, it feels dislocating to not wander down last thing at night to say goodnight to the horse I grew to love so much.  There's a horse with a great name currently living in "Her" paddock...  His name?  Halfblood Prince..  Fantastic!!!  We of course love Harry Potter.  My sister also thought it was cool, when she phoned to check up on me, thinking we were arriving today, and wondering why she hadn't gotten my usual 'we're on the road, dang it, we're later than we hoped', or the 'just finished a stop, took longer than hoped, on our way again' kind of messages.  The Clarkes of course called Black Caviar "Princess", so it's sort of cool that a horse called Halfblood Prince is currently in her paddock.

We've had a genuinely lovely night.   They are wonderful people.  Again I reflect on the wonder that was Black Caviar, of the difference she made to our lives, and to the wonderful people who I've met because of her.


Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 29, 2013 at 7:30 AM

    Ohhhhhhhhh!!! I love this photo .... sigh! I often ponder what is "it" about Nelly that have so many thousands of people love her. What is it about her that attracted hoards of people like me who barely know the back end of a horse from the front?

    Yes, she has charisma. Yes, she has an uncanny ability. Yes, Australia hasn't had a horse like this in many, many years and it will probably be many years before we see another one. Her full sister maybe .....

    But there is something else ... I remember seeing her at Morphettville. I was star struck like a giddy teenager as were the 34,000 other people there that day. I made a 200km round trip by car, train and bus just to get there by the time the gates opened and that was a short journey compared to some. South Australia was in Black Caviar heaven, she led every nightly news bulletin for a week, she sneezed and there was a news flash ... it was incredible.

    One thing that sticks in my mind about her first run at Morphettville is the generosity of her owners, Peter Moody and Luke Nolan in sharing her with us, as they always did. After her stunning win, Luke took her all the way back down the Morphettville straight to where the very last spectators were and trotted her slowly back so everyone could see her.

    And Nelly looked up at the thousands crammed into Morphettville with such a satisfied look on her lovely face .... "Ah, my adoring fans. They have all come from all over Australia just to see me and I love every single one of them."


    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of ...
Read more

Vale Sadler's Wells - champion stallion dies in Ireland.

Image
One of the most important racehorses, and later stallions of our time, the great Sadler's Wells died in Ireland on the evening of Tuesday 26 April 2011.  He died at Coolmore's Tipperary Stud in Ireland, his home since his retirement in 1984.  The stallion was retired from breeding in 2008. His legacy worldwide is immense.  He has left sons and daughters,  and three of his stallion sons, in Galileo, Montjeu and High Chaparral, are leading stallions in the Northern Hemisphere.  In Australia, Galileo and Montjeu had less success, however the impact of High Chaparral was immediate, and immense.  While the horse still has to repeat the success he achieved with his New Zealand bred runners, from which the Group 1 winners, and champion So You Think, were conceived, High Chaparral is still leading the Australian General Sires Title with only a couple of months of racing left. In Europe, Montjeu and Galileo have both sired Epsom Derby winners, in Authorized and Ne...
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what...
Read more