Saturday, February 11, 2012

Black Caviar Makes History, Again

If you didn't know, I'm a sports nut. There's not many sports I don't like and a good sports story or event is sure to attract me. Thus it was that I found myself at Caulfield Racecourse this afternoon to watch the world's best racehorse, Black Caviar, win its 18th race, from 18 starts. (Not just my opinion. Black Caviar was rated the world's best by the international committee who decide these things!! Probably not as voted by her peers though.) The world record is 19 wins in a row I believe, held by Zenyatta, in the USA and the way the Aussie champ won today, racing over 1400m for the first time, I think that record is about to be equalled, passed and left trailing in the dust. BC won with effortless ease. There were over 20,000 people there to watch it, courtesy of the Victorian Racing Club who made it free admission for the day. I'm not a real racing fan. Like most Aussies I really only get interested  when the Melbourne Cup comes around each November, but this horse is something special and I was glad I was there to see it creating history this afternoon.
That's her in the mounting yard before the race by the way, wearing number 8. I had a pretty good view of the finish line but had to follow the race on the big screens because of the huge crowd.


A little late but here's a pic of Chris and I at the Australian Open Tennis at Hisense Arena. We had a great day.

The trip to Tatong was a great success. Here's Mum and Lorna just before we left for home. Lorna wasn't too well on the second day and was still a little off-colour when the photo was taken. Considering she's 84  she did very well and Mum was very pleased to see her and Allan. They have been friends for nearly 50 years I think.

On the way home we took a detour to Shepparton to visit Auntie Merle who despite a recent lengthy stay in hospital was quite bright and cheery while we were there. Her warning to Lorna to watch the step came a split second too late and Lorna was lucky to stumble rather than tumble her way into the loungeroom.
 We spent a day in Benalla and looked at a few houses with Vicki who is working out where she wants to live. Benalla appeals because it's close to Mum and Shannon but she's also considering Geelong, which is close to us, and the Cats!

We didn't stay very long, partly so we didn't tire Auntie Merle out, partly because she had an appointment to go to, and partly because we were also catching up with my younger sister Shannon and her three boys, Eli, Isaac and Samuel. The girls stayed on the farm with Neil. It was good to see her, especially given that a few days earlier she was involved in a serious crash. She pulled out of the farm gate into the path of an on-coming truck ! It hit her from behind and rolled Shannon's car. Amazingly she suffered no serious injuries, mostly a bump to the head which resulted in bruising of the brain. We are very grateful for her survival and that none of the kids were in the car with her.

Sadly Eli is a Hawthorn fan but despite this I invited him to come down to Melbourne and I would take him to the footy when the Hawks play the Cats. He's never been to a live game so hopefully we can get it organized.

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