It's hard to let go of Black Caviar

LAST week, Peter Moody was in the back of a cab as it raced along Alison Rd adjacent to Randwick Racecourse on his way to dinner.

LAST week, Peter Moody was in the back of a cab as it raced along Alison Rd adjacent to Randwick Racecourse on his way to dinner.

The driver, who Moody had learnt was originally from Afghanistan, spotted the enormous white marquees at the northern end of the course.

"Black Caviar is coming!" the driver exclaimed. "The famous horse! Black Caviar!"

As Moody recalled in a brutally candid interview with The Daily Telegraph just a week ago: "I never said a word. He didn't know who I was, even though I had been talking about her on the phone the whole time.

Here was a cab driver from Afghanistan, talking about Black Caviar. I thought, 'F ... me.'"

Many were left thinking the same thing yesterday afternoon when an emotional Moody and owner Neil Wherrett broke the news that the diva of Australian turf would be immediately retired.

I'm not entirely surprised.

Moody never grew tired of discovering how popular his mare was, and he was genuinely stunned by the reaction of the Sydney cabbie, the like of which often don't know the way to the Opera House let alone anything about a champion racehorse from Melbourne.

But when I met Moody over a couple of beers at the Inglis yearling sales in Sydney last Wednesday, he certainly appeared exhausted because of the unyielding pressure of preserving Black Caviar's unbeaten record.

This line is still ringing in my ears about the prospect of the day that she was ever beaten: "The owners will be called greedy and I'll be kicked to death for being a mug."

Three days later, the marquees the cab driver referred to were brimming with racegoers in their finery, well lubricated from the free champagne and beer.

When the ninth and last event of the day came round, as autumn sun sunk behind us, Black Caviar made her way out on to the course proper for the TJ Smith.

The well-to-do in the Members Lounge jammed the seating in the new grandstand, holding up their camera phones to take photos and video like they were at a Justin Bieber concert.

That was the influence Black Caviar had.

She infected all walks of life, of all ages, and excited them about a sport that is increasingly viewed as nothing more than another means of wagering your hard earned.

She reminded everyone about the romanticism of the track. That it is foremost a sport, not an industry.

That is why Moody talked up his mare whenever required, even if she brought increasing pressure.

"I feel an obligation to the industry and the race clubs to do my promotion," he said. "But the non-racing media aren't as educated as the racing media. I feel like saying give me your number and I'll call you at 3.05am in the morning."

Now you have to wonder how much longer Moody will train with Black Caviar about to slip out of his life. He has said before he won't be doing this for life like Bart or Gai, and theorised in our interview the idea of becoming a "substitute trainer" for those horsemen and women who might want to sleep in beyond 3am once in a while.

There is also his young family.

When I asked how his wife Sarah dealt with the other woman in their lives, the trainer said: "She's over it. My family didn't come to England last year because they knew it would be a shitfight."

Black Caviar was a migraine Peter Moody was more than happy to endure, but you sense he is now ready to return to a life where he doesn't live in constant fear of the one thing an entire nation dreaded.

The day she was beaten.

CLICK HERE FOR A CHANCE TO BUY BLACK CAVIAR MEMORABILIA