Australians at Royal Ascot hoping for Black Caviar history

THOUSANDS of Australians will be heading to Royal Ascot tomorrow, hoping to see champion Aussie mare Black Caviar attempt a little piece of racing history.

Organisers of the prestigious racing meet are expecting over 80,000 people to flood through the gates for the final day of the Royal Ascot calendar, and the sell-out crowd will be chocker block full of excited (and anxious) Aussies.

“My understanding is that there are six or seven thousand Australians coming to see her and we’ve got 150 of the (owners’) families here and we’re all looking forward to it,” said Black Caviar part-owner Neil Werrett.

Ascotofficials say more than 5,000 tickets have been sold to customers with Australian addresses. On top of this, there has been a lot of interest fromLondon’s huge Australian expat community.

Read more - Black Caviar at Royal Ascot: What you need to know

“More or less the whole of Antipodean London is coming,” the track’s chief executive Charles Barnett told The Guardian newspaper. It has been reported that the Australian High Commission inLondon has arranged admission to the exclusive royal enclosure for “lots of VIPs” but none of this has been lost on Black Caviar’s trainer, Peter Moody.

“It’s pretty important for the Australian racing industry as a whole and it’s the first time we’ve had a horse rated this high on the world stage, Moody told Radio Sports National‘s Racing Ahead podcast.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t think I had some obligation to the Australian racing industry to make sure this works.

“Certainly my reputation and my ability to travel a horse is on the line. I said to my wife I hope I don’t stuff up. She said you haven’t in 21 times yet, just don’t change too much.”

But it’s not just the thousands of trackside Aussies who are all anxious with excitement for Black Caviar’s 22^nd straight win. The famous five year-old has the expectation of an entire nation behind her, and in her hometown ofMelbourne, they will be showing the race live on giant screens inFederation Square at almost 1am in the morning. The horse has “captured our imagination” said a Victorian government minister earlier this week. And in the same way the Melbourne Cup is the race that stops a nation, Black Caviar’s run in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes will be a run that stops not one but two nations and brings one nation together.

RoyalAscothas already experienced a little bit of Australian flavour earlier this week with both the Aussie Inglis Party on day one and then expat Australian horse So You Think’s win in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday.

Watch the Racing Post’s video of the Inglis Ascot Australian Party:

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