I went to the races last night for no other reason than to watch the champ in the flesh and its something all of us should do more often if we get the opportunity.
He was simply awesome last night putting them to the sword and finishing off in a lazy 54.7. There is a fair argument to say that the champ is going better than ever despite now being a 10 year old if you simply look at the times he has run this time in. Its worth noting that this is his first uninterrupted preparation in about 3 years (bar an atrial fibrillation episode) so its no surprise to see him doing it in hindsight.
He is simply the best horse I have seen and ever likely to see to be honest. 88 starts for 64 wins, 4 InterDominion wins (should be 5 bar for a mad pulling Auckland Reactor) and has been consistently good over a long period of time.
That being said, I am the first to admit that I also didn't give him the credit he deserved early on. He doesn't have the high speed of a lot of good horses, he doesn't win by big margins, he doesn't look impressive a lot of times yet unlike most he has no weakness. Even watching last night, I knew deep down he would dig deep and win but its just amazing to see his will to win when he actually does it.
The sad part is that precious few got to see it, he is trained locally on the Gold Coast at Tambourine yet the media was dominated by the touring car race this weekend and there wasn't a single story on Blackie in the media all week. He should be an icon of Australian sport with his deeds yet he just doesn't make the conversation even in racing terms. Forums this week were dominated with posts about So You Think who has won a total of 6 races in his career which probably in itself shows the gulf between thoroughbred and harness racing nowadays in the public eye.
It will probably take a lot of people 20 years to appreciate simply how good Blackie is and I only hope the industry is still viable at that time as he should be spoken about with not just the greats of harness racing but in the same breath as general racing icons such as Phar Lap.
Can he win his 5th InterDominion this year in Auckland? I for one don't doubt him.
