‘The pomp and pageantry – it’s unbelievable’

It is difficult to put into context what a Royal Ascot win means to the reputation of the winning horse and what it brings to their connections.

Australian owners are spoilt for choice with a multitude of mega-rich races at home worth seven figures, and in the case of The Everest in Sydney, eight figures with news that its prize-money is to be increased to A$20 million.

Peter Moody, Black Caviar’s trainer, perhaps best summed up the various elements involved in a Royal Ascot win when he declared to a global viewing audience “It’s an unbelievable feeling.” Those words came in the immediate aftermath of the mare’s dramatic win a decade ago.

Reflecting this week, Moody says: “Winning with Black Caviar at Royal Ascot was the greatest experience of my life as a racehorse trainer. Putting on the green and gold, under the boxing kangaroo flag, was a proud moment.

“The sad thing was I brought the best horse I’ve ever trained to Royal Ascot and she was running on only three cylinders. It was hard to enjoy it on the day, but ten years on an appreciation of the enormity of it all is still with me. All the pomp and pageantry of the meeting . . . striking for a little boy from the Queensland bush . . . Royal Ascot is up there with the best race meetings in the world.” Moody is rightly proud of what the mare achieved against all the odds at Ascot. He doesn’t have a runner this year, although there is a link to the trainer through Coolangatta, who beat the Moody-trained I Wish I Win in the Lightning Stakes in February. I Wish I Win subsequently franked the form by winning Randwick’s Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney and is one of the rising stars of Australian racing.

Neil Werrett, one of the part-owners of Black Caviar, was more succinct: “It was the most exciting race and times of our lives. Nothing will ever compare with what happened through that period, not only winning at Ascot. We were all so lucky to be involved.”

THERE have been so many great stories attached to Australian success at the royal meeting. Unquestionably, Choisir stands out because of the pioneering nature of his challenge, breaking new ground, a decade after Vintage Crop from Ireland did something similar – but in reverse – by winning the Melbourne Cup.

Choisir’s trainer Paul Perry, modest and quietly spoken, and based at Newcastle, New South Wales, was a fine ambassador for his country. Not only did he produce an equine powerhouse in Choisir to complete the sprint double of the King’s Stand and Golden Jubilee, he was later to train Fastnet Rock to win the Lightning Stakes, and though the colt would journey to Britain, a bout of travel sickness prevented him from attempting the same feat as his stablemate.

Takeover Target, a cast-off bought for A$1,250 by taxi driver turned trainer Joe Janiak, was a tough and classy sprinter who travelled the world after his King’s Stand triumph, also winning in Japan and Singapore and all major racing capitals in Australia. He won 21 of his 41 starts for prize-money in excess of A$6m.

Then came the brilliant Miss Andretti, trained by Lee Freedman, Scenic Blast from West Australia, then Black Caviar, followed by a gap of ten years before Nature Strip blitzed his

Following used to new surroundings; he sees it as a chance to promote him as a potential dual-hemisphere stallion.

“Artorius obviously achieved great things in Australia. He won the Blue Diamond Stakes at two, and the Canterbury Stakes this year, both Group 1s, but if he can win a Jubilee, it would show the fashionable bloodstock market that he’s a world-class horse and also frank his standing among the top level sprinters.

Best from down under Royal Ascot roll of honour

Choisir ch c Danehill Dancer-Great Selection

23 starts, 7 wins

The trailblazer, who showed his fellow Aussies how to travel halfway around the world and win at the royal meeting. A strikingly powerful colt whose talent and toughness set him apart from all others during that memorable week in June 2003 when he completed the famous sprint double. He went on to finish second to Oasis Dream in the July Cup at Newmarket the following month. His Ascot reputation was later enhanced when he sired Starspangledbanner, winner of the 2010 Golden Jubilee Stakes, who in turn sired another Royal winner, State Of Rest, who took last year’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Takeover Target b g Celtic Swing-Shady

Stream

41 starts, 21 wins

This hardy gelding (right) wrote one of the truly romantic tales of the royal meeting when he took his owner-trainer Joe Janiak, a former taxi driver from Canberra, to meet the Queen after winning the 2006 King’s Stand Stakes. He then finished third in the Golden Jubilee the same week. He finished in the frame in both sprint races at Royal Ascot in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Bought in the bargain basement as a cast-off for around £600, the hardy sprinter won big races all around Australia, and also cracked the locals in both Singapore and Japan.

Miss Andretti b m Ihtiram-Peggie’s Bid

30 starts, 19 wins

Originally from West Australia, where she won nine races before being shipped east for the big prizes in Melbourne. After joining top trainer Lee Freedman, she reeled off four wins on the trot, including the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, traditionally Australia’s top sprint, and the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. Post-Ascot, she won another Group 1 in Melbourne. Talented and tough, she always looked like the winner in the King’s Stand but could finish only 15th in the Golden Jubilee over a sixth furlong four days later.

Scenic Blast b/br g Scenic-Daughter’s Charm

30 starts, 8 wins

Another West Australian, who was campaigned adventurously by her trainer Danny Morton, surviving an 11th-hour drama before winning the King’s Stand Stakes when his official papers and passport were queried by the stewards. After his Royal Ascot experience, he failed in the July Cup, while subsequent trips to Japan and Hong Kong were also unsuccessful. He later had a handful of starts in America for John Sherreffs, with his best effort being runner-up in a Grade 2 contest at Del Mar.

Black Caviar br m Bel Esprit-Helsinge

25 starts, 25 wins rivals last year. They were an extremely talented but mixed bunch.

Stallions in the making, mares enhancing their value, and geldings proving their global dominance in the sprint division in their respective years.

Henry Field, founder and managing director of Newgate Stud, located in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, is a firm believer there is “a little bit of magic about Royal Ascot” and is in no doubt of its ongoing high status and what it can achieve for owners.

“Royal Ascot is the greatest international race meeting on the planet,” Field says. “Just being part of that is a very special experience for Australian owners. From our perspective, the industry has a responsibility to travel our horses to the northern hemisphere and prove to the world that those horses can take on and beat the best in the world.

“We’ve seen the Japanese do it time and again. We have to travel our best, even sacrificing [bigger] prize-money doing it. It’s an opportunity to showcase the best of our product on the highest stage,” he adds.

Field and his fellow partners are aiming Artorius for a second time at the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes – he finished third in the Platinum Jubilee last year – and

“From a commercial point, it means potentially we can make shuttle arrangements to stand him at stud in the northern hemisphere as well as in Australia.

“From any mare’s perspective, winning at Royal Ascot greatly enhances their value and makes them a global commodity. We see that in the value they have in the international market,” he adds.

Past glories are no guarantee for present-day success, but the template is there for Australian owners and trainers to utilise as they step forward to face the best served up in a northern hemisphere summer. There is evidence to suggest as least one of the visitors from Down Under will oblige.

The great heroine of all the Aussie raiders over the years, she so very nearly lost her unbeaten record when her jockey Luke Nolen dropped his hands 50 yards from the finishing line in the Golden Jubilee Stakes. Moonlight Cloud, a multiple Group 1 winner subsequently, was pegging her back on the line, failing by only inches. Black Caviar was clearly not herself but bravely avoided defeat with a display of great heart and courage.

This tough and handsome campaigner absolutely destroyed his rivals in last year’s King’s Stand Stakes, having a riderless horse to accompany him in the closing stages, with the rest beaten out of sight. Trainer Chris Waller justly praised the old warrior for this superb win, which saw him acclaimed one of the best horses in the