The Autumn Racing Carnival – looking sweet

Black Caviar returns this Friday

There’s only a few weeks until the official autumn racing season begins with the running of the first Group One, the C F Orr Stakes on 11th February, but the sweetener will be the appearance of champion mare Black Caviar gunning for her 17th win in succession in the Group Two Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley this Friday night.  She will also compete in the Orr Stakes for the first time over 1400 metres and will be racing against middle distance specialists like Cox Plate heroine Pinker Pinker.

The Australia Stakes is run over her pet distance of 1200 metres, so it is fascinating to contemplate her running a further 200 metres. Personally I think that she’ll have no trouble winning at 1400, judging by the ease with which she wins over the shorter distances and the many lengths she puts on her opposition.

I will be attending the race meeting at Moonee Valley on Friday night, but I’m still tossing up whether I will participate in the Black Caviar Cheer Squad. In a moment of folly I volunteered for it and have subsequently been accepted.

On the one hand I like being a free agent at the races, despite the lone wolfishness of this. Then again, it sounds like tremendous fun to be part of the Cheer Squad; and something amusing to blog about as well.

So what the hell, I’ll participate. No doubt the other members of the squad will be like minded folk and passionate Black Caviar fans as I am.

The rest of the race card looks uninspiring, so I might as well be sociable. And taking good photos at night meetings, as I discovered last time I attended, is pretty nigh impossible. However, I’ll still take my camera on the off chance of snapping something amusing or spectacular and hopefully a big brown mare with black spotted salmon silks.

The weather is expected to be warm and dry so the track will be dead to good.