That gritty determination that the stable hand had admired previously came to the fore, and with a look of ‘Don’t mess with me’ she thundered home a triumphant winner in a listed race at Caulfield …
It is a bucket list dream to own a horse that could win at a Melbourne metropolitan track. Our Little Miss H has now done that twice in two weeks! At the winners presentation, they announced the last horse to win this race with two out of two starts was Black Cavier, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
Caulfield racecourse is one of Melbourne’s best known and respectable race tracks, only 8 kms from the CBD… Holy Moly I’m pinching myself as I write this. It was not that long ago that we were packing up a family picnic for the six hour drive out into Woop Woop (our Aussie slang for somewhere in the middle of nowhere… in case you were wondering…) In search of a racetrack that no-one else wanted to go to, where we might have a half decent chance to win, and then when we didn’t, well, it was an even longer drive home.
After collecting our Members’ Reserve Owner badges we trot off to find our girl. A special assistance buggy stops to give us a lift to the stalls, which were all of 100 metres away…We are not sure of the etiquette here, is this special treatment for VIP owners, or should we be offended? We hop in anyway…
We find our filly looking relaxed in her favourite blue slippers, just having her hair done for the big event – well a gal’s got to look good…she may have beaten the girls last time, but this time she is racing with the boys.
In the stall next to her is a rather plain Jane pony friend she has brought along for company on the trailer. A punter comes up to get a sneak peak and takes one look at plain Jane and comments very rudely ‘I don’t like the look of that one!”
There is a gathering of admiring owners and a general consensus about how brilliant the Sandown race was and how good she is looking…
We’re off to find a bookie, it’s such a shame that news of her first win has spread and we’re hard pressed to find a turf accountant that doesn’t have her as favourite… I put $5 on to win at the Tote for each of the kids and we race off (yes it’s exhausting just keeping up) to watch her from the mounting yard. She is on her toes but she is not on her hind legs like the show off male behind her. She looks good, very good.
Our champion jockey Glen Boss comes over for a chat with the owners, we get the plan but can they execute? Boss, a current leader for the Melbourne Jockey’s Premiership is looking for his 58 win of the season – she couldn’t be in better hands…
Oh those butterflies in the stomach… A combination of shaking with excitement and a bloody fast horse results in the ‘that’s a good ‘un’ photo below…
We take our seats at the front of the glass members stand… She’s won, we all hug, everyone is smiling at us, we rush back down to see her come in. Bless, she is still on her toes, with nostrils flaring and her glistening bay coat catching the last of the warm autumn sunshine. She looks every inch of a champion.
$72,000 not a bad day in the office and this is no spit and sawdust race either, this is Catanach’s Jewellers Stakes, the posh jewellers in town. The cheque comes with a $500 silver cup. Whoo hoo…
The owners are invited to have a photo with the horse, can’t wait to see a copy of this. We all gather on the lawn, those with heels are sinking fast into the soft perfectly manicured lawn of the winners enclosure. We are directed to leave a gap in our midst for the horse. She is now Little Miss Popular and with sixty million owners who have appeared from no-where this is no mean feat for the photographer…
We are told to stand, smile and what ever happens look at the camera – with a young inexperienced horse our trainer Michael Kent, has done well with the on track work, but horsey media appearances and PR clearly come in the three year old training program. Little Miss Hussy comes storming through the middle of us. Click, click, click, it’s a wrap…
Madam makes it quite clear the audience is over and she’s off for some oats…
Next it’s time for the official presentation of the Cup and the winners cheque. We were rather embarrassed to admit that in the heady excitement of winning at Sandown last week, we completely forgot about the awards presentation. Instead we had skipped off to the Owners bar, to watch the replays on the TV and celebrate with a free diet coke and a party pie…
There are speeches and lots of clapping and sticking closely to the other owners we are escorted down to the BMW Winners Bar for champagne and chicken sandwiches. Awww very nice. A lovely man from Melbourne Racing Club invites us to have complimentary membership until the end of the season… Double very nice…
We watch the race on the big screen, again and again, more champagne is on offer. Could easily get used to this!
Little Wandering Wren
