No regrets as Black Caviar camp calls it a day

NELLY will never race again - and the best thing about that is that there will be no regrets, not by anybody.

Ron Reed

3 min read

April 18, 2013 - 12:00AM

HeraldSun

NELLY will never race again - and the best thing about that is that there will be no regrets, not by anybody.

Black Caviar's shock retirement yesterday wasn't exactly a party - that will come at Caulfield on Saturday when she will be formally farewelled by what is sure to be an enormous crowd - but it was certainly an upbeat occasion, which isn't always the case when sporting champions come to the end of the road.

There was a simple, heartfelt reason for that - she was still unbeaten and just as importantly uninjured and unbowed in any way.

The relief about that was as palpable as the pride - the dominant sentiments among a mixture of emotions as the head of the syndicate of owners, Neil Werrett, bit his lip hard and made the announcement to about 50 reporters and cameramen.

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We had assembled at short notice at trainer Peter Moody's red-brick stables behind Caulfield Racecourse, the horse's spiritual home, not quite certain why we were there because - unusually for an event of this magnitude - the news hadn't leaked.

Black Caviar

But when strapper Donna Fisher led the most famous animal in Australia into the yard and paraded her for the cameras and the connections burst into spontaneous applause, it was obvious this wasn't simply to announce her next engagement.

Moody was immediately asked whether Nelly had pulled up well after her 25th win in Sydney - another way of asking whether anything had gone amiss.

The question captured one of the reasons why the Black Caviar show never became mundane despite it being, in one sense, a predictable procession - there was always the fraught possibility that something could go wrong.

That she could get beaten. Or worse, that she might break down.

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Black Caviar

Nobody wanted to see the fairytale fractured, for it to end badly.

That's why Moody nearly always spoke in the mounting yard about the relief he felt that she had got the job done again, unscathed and unbothered - with the one famous exception at Royal Ascot. And even then she survived that to fight another day - another three days, in fact.

It was no different yesterday when Moody admitted to some sadness - a big sooky, he called himself - and a lot of pride but most of all, yes, relief that his big girl was still in one piece and perfectly capable of racing on if required.

"We thought long and hard about another season but she's done everything we asked her to do and the time is right," he said.

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"She has got a few aches and pains, as she always does, but she has never looked better.

"She's in such great shape and that's how we wanted her to bow out."

Werrett was in furious agreement. "It was a hard decision," he said, "but it would have been worse if she'd run on and something had happened."

And so say all of us.

The only key player not present was jockey Luke Nolen, who, if anything, was guilty of understatement when Moody told him the news. "It's the end of an era," he said.

It sure is. It is highly unlikely we will ever again witness a story quite like this, one that has transcended racing and sport in general, a legend fit to be recounted along with the deeds of Don Bradman - and, yes, Phar Lap.

There will be other chapters - the farewell party, the birth of her priceless progeny, the tributes and the debates about her place in posterity.

But as her connections tried to put it all into perspective, she quietly slipped away, back to her humble box with its straw bed, and when the talking finally stopped, lo and behold she had vanished.