ROB’S SHOUT - BRING ON THE CAVIAR!

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, March 31, 2011

How thrilling to once again see the 'superstar' of the turf strut her stuff at Moonee Valley in the William Reid for yet another Group 1 romp.

It's absolutely fantastic for racing enthusiasts right across the nation to have a 'new' champ that acts like a magnet to draw thousands back to the races.

Equally important, it brings the attention of the industry to so many as the mainstream media jump onto the Black Caviar bandwagon - which is fantastic for our industry.

I have said it before and I am happy to say it again, what a fantastic job 'Super' trainer Peter Moody has done since he threw his hat into the ring and ventured south.

Big Pete has relished the challenge and his unbelievable work ethic has seen him triumph and achieve a level of horsemanship and dominance in the Melbourne training ranks not seen since the great TJ!

Full credit to the big guy.

We should all not take it for granted that a star like Black Caviar just has to go around each time to keep winning.

Peter’s handling of her from day one has been superb and it's no fluke that she has clocked up eleven wins in a row.

Not a lot has been made of the fact that Peter actually chose and purchased this super racehorse as a youngster which is also testimony to his great eye for a nice horse.

I wrote an article once questioning at what stage a racehorse achieves 'Champion Status'. I am not sure when this wonderful mare did that, but there can be little doubt of the fact that she has reached that level.

The 'world' deserves to see Black Caviar and hopefully the connections will get the opportunity to show them that she is indeed the very best sprinter in the world!

Her drawing power is immense, as witnessed at Moonee Valley, and it will be fantastic to see the show rolling onto Sydney and then onto Brisbane for our Winter Carnival.

Whilst she will be the major star and drawcard for the carnival, there will also be others coming from afar for the allure of the very good carnival prize money.

The black mare may scare a few away though, but that is always going to happen when a horse is just so dominant!

The winter carnival is our local industy’s showpiece time of the year and it is important that it is a major success.

I was quite proud when a number of experts openly stated that the local winter carnival last year was one of the best nationally throughout the year!

Full credit to the administrators for a job well done.

Our winter carnival is very much on the doorstep and Black Caviar will undoubtedly be the major highlight, but even for local industry participants it is a time of year that gets us buzzing a bit with excitement and anticipation.

Little doubt that the quality of races does go to a higher level right across the region making the task of winning races so much harder.

The level rises appreciably in the city which flows out to the provincial racetracks so it becomes good racing all around. Bloody tough to win but good, keen
competitive racing is good for the industry.

There are many who are pleased there will be a mini invasion from horses from down South and from across the Tasman to boost the racing quality during our carnival and probably a few not so pleased, but top racing is what it's all about!

The local Queensland trainers could very much hold their heads high during last year's Winter Carnival and certainly we let them know we were about during the Spring carnival with top wins to a number of the local horses in both Sydney and Melbourne!

We challenged them on their home turf and the results were more than respectable. Let's hope we can continue to match it against the quality horses who will no doubt venture north for the warmer winter climate.

We were blessed during last year's winter with just about 'rain free racing' so hopefully we will get some luck weather wise after the pounding we have had during the last six months.

The poor buggers up north! I do not know how they are coping with the continuous deluge.

It would be the same in just about all of the main stables as we prepare the better quality horses for racing throughout April, May and June … getting them set for specific targets and hoping like hell that things go smoothly.

There is nothing more depressing than having a good horse suffer an injury as it’s being set for feature races.

Unfortunately, that has been the case unfortunately for me with one of my stable stars as Buffering has had a setback with a major hoof issue.

A stone bruise has gone bad on us and infection looks like seriously delaying his Winter Carnival aspirations and maybe even causing us to abort the carnival completely, which will be a very bitter pill to swallow.

We are devastated, but what can we do in the circumstances? We are doing our best to get on top of the problem but these things can happen.

I am fortunate that I have some other stable hopefuls to fly the flag for us during the carnival.

Woorim was only a couple of strides short of being a Group 1 horse so there is a good race in him. He's coming into the carnival in top shape!

Our Lukas will be there to defend his last two Ipswich Cup wins and trying to set a new weight carrying record there!

Tabulate can hopefully add to his Group 3 success from last year and Gundy Son and Captain Clayton should be competitive in a couple of the Listed sprint races.

Fillydelphia has thrived on her recent break and she has me a bit excited about her prospects in the three-year-old races over a bit of ground!

Funtantes was very unlucky right throughout her last campaign and she will just need her luck to improve to be winning a nice race.

It's never easy winning on any Saturday throughout the year and it will get bloody tough throughout the next three months, but it's a challenge. I welcome and any time of year that gets a little buzz going about the place!

Bring on the Caviar! It will be great to see the magnificent mare!

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