Bonaria put her best foot forward in winning the Lort Smith Animal Hospital Handicap over her favourite distance, 1600 metres.

It was a case of horses for courses as she certainly delivered, running away to win impressively.

Bonaria is raced by her breeders, Robert and Amanda Anderson; they have had a long and successful association with trainer Pat Hyland.

This could be the best horse they have raced; she seems to be best suited to Flemington with the long run in an advantage.

Pat Hyland described it as pretty exciting to have a mare like her; she has won twice at headquarters during this preparation.

Linari, the imported French bred entire out of the Peter Moody yard, turned in a nice run at his first start here, he is by Acclamation, the sire of the dual Royal Ascot King Stand Stakes success Equiano, a promising sire standing at Adam Sangster’s Swettenham Stud

There was strong support for the Irish bred Sharalam, a last start winner at Sandown, after starting favourite he failed to run on as expected.

British General generally runs his best races at Flemington, he was found wanting at the business end of the race, the paddock looks the best option at present.

Bonaria loves Flemington

Surely there are no more superlatives left to describe Black Caviar, she has ticked all the boxes.

She has eclipsed the record set by Desert Gold 97 years ago, and equalled by Gloaming five years later, in winning 19 races in succession.

Phar Lap made the attempt in the early thirties, he reached 14 straight wins before his defeat at the hands of Waterline in the C M Lloyd Stakes, he then went on to win another eight races before running unplaced in the 1931 Melbourne Cup, his last race in Australia.

The closest attempt was in the early forties when Ajax got to within one win of the record, before being defeated in the Rawson Stakes, starting at 40-1 on.

Since Black Caviar’s first win four years ago at Flemington, in a Restricted two year old race, she looked something special, however, Peter Moody could never have envisaged how the future was going to unfold.

In fairness to Moody, he has been protective of the mare from the outset; maybe he sensed there was something special about her.

Her longevity is a credit to the man that trains her, Peter Moody, he has been good for her and she has repaid him a hundred fold.

On Saturday she won her 25^th race in as many starts, winning the T J Smith Stakes by three lengths, breaking 1-10secs for the 1200 metres.

Black Caviar is proving the biggest box attraction to racing since the Bernborough era, 60 years ago, sadly that was so short lived.

She has drawn crowds unprecedented in an era when race attendances continue to drop off, except at carnival time.

Brisbane looks to be the next start on the radar for the great mare, then Royal Ascot would have to be considered if the intention is to have her served by Frankel while there.

Black Caviar = They come no better

This is the time of the year when racing at Moonee Valley goes into recess, with no racing for a nine week period.

With 29 race meetings throughout the season, and 21 of those meetings between October and April, it is natural the track is getting tired and in need of attention.

While the grass remains green and lush, as it was on Saturday last, it carries a lot of traffic throughout the year.

There is no short cutting at Moonee Valley, no expense has ever been spared in presenting a great racing surface and no time wasted.

The renovation of the track is well under way for completion, with three race meetings over the winter period, the first being June 3.

Racecourse manager, Martin Synan, knows Moonee Valley like no one else; he has been there for 30 years serving his time well, 12 years as assistant manager before taking over the reins four and a half years ago.

With a staff of 21 to support him during the renovation everything is falling into place.    

One of the main issues to be addressed is Poa Annua, a shallow rooted grass, or common name winter grass, and minor compaction due to machinery traffic throughout the year.

The renovation consists of removing the entire running rail, mowing the turf down to 3 inches; the track is normally at a height of 6.5 inches for race meetings.

The next move is to vacuum all the clippings from the track in preparation for the contractors to come in and carry out their work.

Then scarified to remove thatch and Poa that was sprayed prior to the last Saturday’s race meeting, using Matrix and vacuumed again.

A growth retardant, Primo, which lasts about six weeks, is then applied to keep existing turf at 3 inches while the new seed establishes itself.

A top dressing of sand 5 to 10 mm is applied, then Verti Drained with 18mm Tynes to relieve compaction and also work the sand into the profile.

This will assist drainage and root development for the next racing season, the seeding begins with 200 kg per acre of perennial rye grass called Banquette.

It is then general maintenance thereafter, and nature will be the deciding factor.

Moonee Valley

There is no substitute for winning, that surge of adrenalin, an experience one never tires of as your horse reaches the winning post.

Racing is a great leveller, if you can afford it enjoy it, there are no barriers, owners are readily accepted.

VRC committeeman, Neil Wilson, and his cousin, Darrin, have experienced all those thrills, and the nail biting finishes with the recently retired Chasm.

Fortunately the lovable chestnut gelding has a life thereafter, well away from the racetrack, a lush paddock at Pakenham and a warm rug to keep out the winter chills.

Not a lot really, just a few of the little luxuries he deserves for the pleasures he gave those that raced him.

Chasm won nine races and he won them the hard way, coming from last most times, he had to get the breaks to win.

He generally competed at the top level, and whilst he didn’t always win, he gave of his best at all times.

With touch of luck he most likely would have included a Group 1 to his resume, instead of finishing third to Wall Street and Dao Dao two years ago.

Chasm at headquarters

Records are made to be broken, but some take a little longer than others.

Whether Robert Thompson’s record will ever be broken is a tall order, last week, at Scone, when winning on Red’s Bid this to his total of winning rides to 3,859.

How saddle will travel! On Saturday he is off to Rockhampton for the $100,000 two year old, riding Dazzle Me Red for Liam Birchley.

His nearest rival is Greg Ryan with 3,001.5 winners after a double at Tamworth yesterday.