POETRY IN MOTION

There were many thousands of words penned following Black Caviar’s 21st, but veteran Sydney scribe, Max Presnell, summed it up thus:

Poetry with little motion was produced by Luke Nolen on Black Caviar in Saturday’s Goodwood at Morphettville. It was an armchair ride for her 21st consecutive triumph and the synchronisation between man and horse has never been more refined. At times a little twist of the wrist, seemingly lacking the pressure to dislodge a fly, but enough to get the right reaction from a responsive partner. Last week I pointed out how Athol Mulley, a master in the saddle, had to go to extremes to restrain the mighty Bernborough to a neck success at Randwick. But Cool Hand Luke was more art than throttling back, good for the horse if not the final margin of a length and quarter. Yes, Black Caviar accounted for opposition deemed bum of the month, the title given to second-rate opponents of Joe Louis, the great heavyweight. Black Caviar neither enhanced her champion status nor detracted from it in the Goodwood. But Nolen left a vision splendid, more satisfying than wilting wreckage in her wake.