Barry O’Farrell started a shorter-priced favourite in the NSW election than Black Caviar will be at Randwick on Saturday and the new premier is on the mare’s bandwagon.
O’Farrell, who visited the Australian Easter Yearling sale in Sydney on Thursday, said he would be cheering the Victorian mare in the TJ Smith Stakes although he wouldn’t be able to make it to the track.
“It’s fantastic that she is here,” O’Farrell said.
“Parallels have been drawn between me and the election and Black Caviar as unbackable favourites and I’m sure it will be a great day.
“Unfortunately I won’t be there. Politicians work harder on weekends than during the week.
“But I will be at the Doncaster the following week and I’m looking forward to that.”
While the NSW premier won’t be at Randwick, a bumper crowd is expected to attend, spurred on by the chance to see the world’s highest-rated racehorse notch win number 12.
The glamour and the hype attached to the unbeaten mare has its ups and downs for her trainer Peter Moody who admits the attention can be stifling.
Black Caviar has attracted a huge following and transcended the usual racing media with Moody in demand from all quarters.
“It’s a pain in the arse but it’s great pain in the arse,” Moody said.
“I’d rather be having to go through it myself than sit and watch someone else go through it.
“As a young bloke growing up you watch the Trevor McKees with Sunline and Lee Freedman with Makybe Diva and you think it would be great to be part of one, and it’s a dream that can happen.
“People who have called me and wanted various things, to be part of TV shows, have no interest in racing but I think public pressure wants it out there.”
The pressure forced Moody to hold a one-off press conference in Sydney this week to accommodate the public’s thirst for Black Caviar news.
He hopes it means the mare will be left alone when she arrives in Sydney in the early hours of Friday morning after a float trip from Melbourne so he can prepare her for the big day.
Black Caviar will be staying at Randwick but Moody declined to name the exact location of her stable.
But at 2.20 on Saturday afternoon, she will be out for everyone to see.
AAP TURF
