Peter Moody remembers the days of Black Caviar with fondness, but knows all too well that things have changed in the past 15 years.
As Doncaster winner Sheza Alibi begins a spring that could take her toward superstar status, Moody is becoming a cameraman, rather than fronting them as he did with Black Caviar.
“We just want to take everyone on this ride, and we’re hoping there is a ride to go on,” Moody said.
“It is different now. Everyone has a camera, everyone gets their videos and people want to see that sort of stuff [of Sheza Abili behind the scenes].
“If I can show her coming off the track and having a swim and people like that, it not too hard to do.
“The owners get it first, but I think it helps everyone to show our stars and she is one of them.”
When Black Caviar changed Australian racing with her unbeaten run, things were different.
Moody had to adjust to the attention and learned to give people what they needed and wanted.
“Back then my phone wouldn’t stop,” Moody said.
“I would have owners and you guys [the media] ringing all the time, not just about her, but about all my horses.
“These days we send out the videos to keep our owners informed, and I might get three calls rather than 30. The more you give the better.
“What Black Caviar taught me was you need to let people be part of the story.
“She was public property, so everyone needed that vision of her and needed to hear from me.
“So I would say she’s coming out at 10am on Thursday and I would answer all the questions and then put her away for raceday.
“It meant I didn’t have to feel guilty saying no, when someone asked for something because I could say you had you’re chance on Thursday.
“Now we can do things around the stable and give people an insight into how [Sheza Abili] is going.
“It is different but I can talk about her and let people where she is.”
Moody is confident he has this mare ready to go into the spring. She is favourite for the Memsie Stakes in a fortnight, and second pick behind Autumn Glow for Saturday’s Winx Stakes, with one of them to be her starting point.
“She looks great and is a little in front of where I thought she would be,” he said.
“We’ll chuck a nomin in for the Winx Stakes and see how she works on Tuesday morning. It would be great to get the clash with Autumn Glow out of the way, but Chris [Waller] is going to have a lot of horses there.
“We will make a decision on Wednesday morning about next week, but we have the option of the Memsie Stakes.”
