An aura like no other … even seven years after she retired.
Connections and the media scrum watched on in silence as Black Caviar strutted her stuff around the Lindsay Park stables at Flemington this morning.
Still as graceful as ever.
The mighty mare, who went 25 wins from her 25 career starts, will make her return to the public at Flemington headquarters tomorrow with the race named in her honour to be run and won.
Her regular jockey Luke Nolen was on hand at this morning’s presentation and was grateful to be in the presence of the horse that catapulted his career.
“She propelled me to another level as a rider,” Nolen said.
“But she was the star of the show and I was just a lucky passenger.
“I was always treated as a bit of a butler.
"She was the star.”
Nolen rode the immortal sprinter for 22 of her wins and added the day he knew he had mounted a special horse was at Caulfield in 2010.
It was the Schillaci Stakes over 1000 metres at Group 2 level.
She easily accounted for a handy field after Nolen opened up the reins and then eased her up on the line to coast in by just over a length.
“When she came and furnished into her four-year-old year she was still unbeaten,” Nolen said.
“But it was then that she started showing signs that she was really special.
“She hadn't won a Group One at that stage but for me it was her sixth run when it started to drop that we were in the presence of a superstar.”
Black Caviar will be paraded around the Flemington mounting yard prior to the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m) tomorrow afternoon.