Black Caviar

I think I finally have an insight into why sports mad people the world over stay up to watch those things that interest them. I can't say I ever have. I have always loved to swim and do that and my gym seesions three times a week but I suppose these things are for my emotional health more than anything. Except for going to watch Collingwood play occasionally, the only sport I can watch with more than a passing interest is horse racing.

It's my great escape. Ever since I was seventeen, I have loved getting dressed up in my finest and being a better sort of me for an afternoon. I have an occasional flutter, yet that's incidental because the last four digits of my phone number wouldn't win you anything either ;)  Some of my nearest and dearest are friends I have made and kept at the races. I don't have quite as much time for it any more and it isn't quite the escape it used to be. Swapping prostitution for motherhood means it's just another dimension instead of a desperate escape. And I have to admit, one of the biggest thrills I have ever had was watching my own horse jump from the stalls for the very first time. I don't know if anyone could relate to this; in that instant, I felt like I was being washed clean. It was that much of an exhiliration.

So tonight I am staying up to watch Black Caviar go half way around the world to take on Royal Ascot. I watched her at Caulfield once and had goosebumps. And that was long time before she went on to her current record of 21 wins from 21 starts. Even her jockey is good enough to acknowledge he has the easiest job in the world.