Black Caviar: Galloping For Money And Love …

• April 29th, 2012
• Posted by EUEditor

The champion Thoroughbred Black Caviar easily won her 20th race from 20 starts, at Adelaide on Saturday (28.4.12), setting up for a trip to Europe to race at Royal Ascot in June.

DOTING THOUSANDS

The six year-old mare, foaled in Victoria, has captured the hearts and hopes of thousands; race meetings drawing unaccustomed capacity crowds; certain children going around in the now-famed orange-and-polka-dot silks; and racing writers, like Andrew Eddie in the Herald, having a field day:

“More than 30,000 people turned up at Morphettville yesterday (28.4.12), not to see a horse race but to see the horse race, and to breathe the same air as the fastest horse in the world, Black Caviar”, he wrote.

“ They watched her breathtaking stride, watched as she effortlessly dismantled her rivals and watched her make history all in a matter of 70 seconds. And how they loved it.

‘’’This is unbelievable’,’ an emotional part-owner Gary Wilkie said moments after Black Caviar cruised to the line 4.5 lengths in front of her opposition in the 1200-metre Sportingbet Classic.

‘’’That a horse could bring out people like this and bring out this sort of response. It’s hard to fathom …’”

A young animal with sensational stride, and capacity when called upon, mostly not needed, to put in a devastating final sprint; Black Caviar is a favourite to thrill the punters, and as a winner has brought in  over A$4.9-million in prize money to this date.

NOT PHAR LAP

Inevitably, comparisons have come up with the Depression era people’s favourite, Phar Lap (picture), another six year-old; the Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate winner sent off to compete in the United States on a wave of love.

Racing in the United States was beset by organised crime at that time; when the gelding died suddenly in stables in 1932, it was feared that gangsters had ordered him poisoned.

Latter-day scientists have confirmed the theories of the era, that the cause of death was a form of severe gastroenteritis, or poisoning with arsenic.

After autopsies revealed Phar Lap’s outsize heart, the object was taken in a bottle to the Australian National Museum, and is marvelled at by successive generations of human beings.

Nothing so sinister as the fate of Phar lap is expected now, 80 years on.

Black Caviar, it is greatly hoped, will provide a thrill for Queen Elizabeth, when she goes to the races in the year of her Diamond Jubilee.

See video of the twentieth victory: www.TelevisionFanatic.com, or via SMH, http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/unbelievable-black-caviar-best-ever-20120428-1xs1p.html

Reference

Andrew Eddy, “’Unbelievable’ Black Caviar best ever”, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 29.4.12.

Max Presnell, “Love is all around with horse and human laid bare”, SMH. Sydney, 29.4.12.http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/unbelievable-black-caviar-best-ever-20120428-1xs1p.html#ixzz1tOD0vR5t, (29.4.12).

National Museum Australia, Canberra, “Phar Lap’s heart”. http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/phar-laps-heart, (29.4.12).

Wikipedia, SF, “Phar Lap”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phar_Lap, (29.4.12).

Pictures

Racing Victoria, shopdesign, thgoroughbredworldwide, wikipedia

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