By DAVID NAGEL
THE owners of Black Caviar, who left such an indelible mark on Sunday’s $100,000 Centrebet Pakenham Cup, have stepped straight off the track and into a storm of controversy.
And the Pakenham Racing Club has leapt to their defence.
The owners of Australia’s equine superstar have been the subject of nasty Twitter attacks after it was suggested they demanded 220 members’ tickets and a catered marquee before confirming Black Caviar would start in the T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick on April 13.
The owners say they’ve never asked for anything extra and only inquired about purchasing extra tickets and paying for an area to accommodate their growing band of supporters. The Twitter attacks have labelled the owners as primadonnas and asked them to leave their egos at home and show some humility.
Pakenham Racing Club committeeman, Ron Carroll, worked closely with the group of owners who attended Sunday’s race and said he was shocked to learn of the criticism.
“I’m absolutely staggered because they offered themselves completely and could not have been more giving to the Pakenham Racing Club,” Mr Carroll said.
“We approached them and they were more than happy to attend and to help us in any way. They told us they still had the Gold Cup from Royal Ascot, and would we like them to bring it, and they offered to dress up in their Royal Ascot gear.
“They agreed to be introduced to the public and answer questions and they never once asked, “What’s in it for us”. They co-operated with everything we suggested and were basically at our mercy.
“They’re just sharing their good luck and that’s what they see it as, good luck. They fully understand it was by pure chance that they’ve ended up in a horse like Black Caviar and they’re just enjoying the ride.”
PRC chief executive Michael Hodge said the parade of Black Caviar’s owners down the main straight, accompanied by the Kooweerup Secondary College School Band, gave the day a real community feel.
“They were brilliant and really added something to the day,” Mr Hodge said.
“We market the Pakenham Cup as a community event and there was certainly that community feel to this year’s event. It was one of our better cup days, with the quality of racing, the track and crowd behaviour all first-class.”
The PRC has announced that next year’s Pakenham Cup, the final instalment before the club heads to its new state-of-the-art facility in Tynong, will take place on Sunday 9 February, 2014.
