Knowing Black Caviar's time was up may be Peter Moody's crowning glory

COMMENT: BLACK Caviar's retirement proved Peter Moody is a champion horseman.

Black Caviar parades in front of the media with her trainer Peter Moody

BLACK Caviar's retirement proved Peter Moody is a champion horseman.

There is a subtle difference between a trainer and a horseman. The former conditions a horse to race, the latter understands and appreciates every element of the horse, enabling him to know intimately each and every "signal" of impending glory or drama.

Moody is a great trainer. He also is a great horseman.

Life goes on for Moody racing

He guided the great mare through all her ailments to register 25 consecutive career wins, including a record 15 at Group 1 level. Other trainers may not have shown the patience he displayed time and again, and may well have broken her down or inadvertently helped induced defeat.

However Moody's crowning glory will not be seen in the record books. It was his intuitive instinct, his love of the horse and his selflessness that ensured Black Caviar retired undefeated and in pristine health.

Nobody stood to benefit, in a financial and professional sense, more than Moody had Black Caviar raced on. He could have sent her for a spell and headed to the spring carnival where three more wins loomed, followed by another autumn campaign - potentially taking her stretch to 30 wins and 20 at Group 1 level.

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Instead he forfeited the training fees and share of the huge prizemoney. He let go of the publicity that ensured his unmistakable head was prominent every time she as much as ran a track gallop or went to the beach for a swim.

The horseman in him knew her time was up. He took a look at her after the gut-busting run in the TJ Smith Stakes at Randwick last Saturday and he knew in his heart that she had nothing more to give.

She doubtless reminded him, painfully, of how distressed she looked after her courageous victory in the UK last year when she overcame ailments and fatigue that almost forced Moody to withdraw her from the race.

A lesser horseman would have pressed on, looking for any avenue to keep the magic carpet ride alive.

Not Moody. Horses can't talk, but they can tell a horseman so much in different ways - attitude, fatigue, physical problems. Moody looked at this world champ and declared: "That's enough. I don't want to see you go through this again."

For that, he too is a legend.