was hard for those on track to be confident however, John recalling that the young horse refused to behave. ‘He played up badly. The worst I have ever seen.’
By this stage Prince Of Penzance had been gelded, his behaviour more to do with a lack of maturity. He was never particularly colty, Darren Weir said. ‘John Foote told me that you have to geld the Pentires, so I took his advice.’
Fortunately, Prince Of Penzance put his excess energy into his race.
A little slowly away, Prince Of Penzance settled back, racing greenly (racing speak for a horse running a bit erratically due to a lack of experience) but picking himself up and charging late to overhaul the leader.
‘Prince Of Penzance is running him down in a hurry, and he’s got there,’ said the race caller.
It was not the first time Michelle Payne had been aboard the immature bay. She knew from track work and jump-outs that he was promising, but by winning at debut at a distance that was to be far short of his best, he gave her cause for some excitement.
‘He is really green, but he surprised me how he really picked up,’ she told the horse’s connections.
Darren Weir was also impressed, though it was still very early days. ‘I knew at this stage that he had ability … but not how much.’
And so Prince Of Penzance had won his first $9000.
Members of the Wilawl Go Racing syndicate watched from their various workplaces on their mobiles, dismayed when the broadcast dropped out. There was no vision until the 600 metres, but soon they were all yelling at their phones, jumping up and down, ringing each other. Michael Wilson had been ill, so much so that he didn’t really take it all in, and was soon in hospital on a drip. It was not till a week later that he recovered sufficiently to watch the replay. And then he watched again. And again.
Seventeen days later over 1350 metres at Donald, rising in class, Prince Of Penzance was 10–1, bookmakers and punters all aware that it is not the easiest of tasks for a horse to step up from a maiden to win again.
Darren Weir had Taiyoo, a more favoured runner in the same race, a horse who had also won his first start but by a bigger margin. He was to jump from the inside barrier, Prince Of Penzance had drawn out wide.
All bar one of the Wilawl Go Racing crew were on course, excited. ‘Now you know it is hard to win second up,’ Neil Laws warned, but Andrew Wilson was more confident: ‘I think we have a special horse; he can do it.’
While Taiyoo sat third behind a tearaway leader, Prince Of Penzance was out the back, spotting his rivals over ten lengths. As his stablemate made a winning run, Prince Of Penzance was checked by a broken-down horse at the turn, the sort of interference that would put most young, inexperienced horses out of business.
But not Prince Of Penzance — he just kept going, hooking out wide and finishing off strongly to finish third. He was beaten a bit less than three lengths by Taiyoo, who would also go on to prove himself a high-class performer, winning at Group Three and Listed level, and only just missing out on an Adelaide Cup victory.
So eye-catching was Prince Of Penzance’s run that seventeen days later he was favourite stepping up to 1600 metres at Ballarat, his home track.
It was a weekday, hard for owners to get to, but Andrew and Michael Wilson finished work early and headed to the track. Soon noticing a bias favouring horses on pace, they were a little concerned, but the stable had also taken note and it looked a nice chance to see how Prince Of Penzance would fare closer up in running. And it would be a good learning experience for him.
Despite drawing another tricky wide gate, he was fast enough out of the barriers to take the lead. By the time he got to the home turn he was a couple of lengths in front.
‘Michelle gave him a little squeeze and he gave a bit more, and won easily,’ Andrew recalled, laughing at the memory of becoming the sort of excitable and vocal owners who everyone else notices … lots of yelling and fist-pumping. ‘I remember hitting my race book so hard against my hand that it sounded like a whip cracking.’
Prince Of Penzance was again green, drifting out a bit late, but he held a two-length margin to the line and was now the winner of two of his first three starts, Michelle Payne noting that ‘he has still got a bit to learn, but he is a really nice horse’.
Darren Weir, with a cheeky grin on his face, turned to the Wilsons, saying, ‘Boys, we are going to have some fun with this horse.’
Chapter Two
To Town
The next step for Prince Of Penzance was a tougher one. Not only did he have to run another 200 metres, but he was taking on city-class performers, heading to town for the first time in a $100,000 1800-metre contest at Caulfield.
While his country form was impressive, this was a much more difficult task and he was double-figure odds. Owner Andrew Broadfoot remembers having a nice bet, thinking ‘he might never be this sort of price again’.
And it was the day that the stable decided to add some arsenal: Prince Of Penzance was to wear blinkers for the first time.
With his peripheral vision, the horse is bombarded with a multitude of sights as he races, a blur of light and colour. It is bound to detract from their concentration, especially if the horse is inexperienced.
Part of a hood fitted over the horse’s head, blinkers curve around the back of the eye and forward, restricting the wearer’s view so that he can see only straight ahead. Which is where the finishing line is.
Prince Of Penzance’s first metropolitan run was not a winning one, but it was one that earned him plenty of fans. A little slowly away from an inside gate, he sat midfield around nine lengths from the leaders.
Into the clear straightening he gathered momentum, running on strongly to be beaten by the barest of margins. He went into many a punter’s black book that day, with a Best Bets commentator noting ‘nice horse, follow!’
‘What a run,’ Darren Weir said to owner Pam Wilson, who had watched the race with him.
The Men In Hats Syndicate’s Sam Brown remembers the day well. He had just completed the twenty-four-hour Oxfam Trailwalker challenge and was tired — well, exhausted. He had not slept more than an hour, but there was ‘no way’ he was missing his horse’s first city race.
Popping a couple of No-Doz tablets to ensure he was alert enough to enjoy the race he headed out to Caulfield, glad he made the effort.
‘He absolutely flew home to just miss out in a photo finish. Wow, how good was that, what an experience! We knew we had a horse worthy of city class.’
And it was a pretty exciting day to have a runner, that day chosen by the Melbourne Racing Club to farewell the unbeaten champion, Black Caviar.
‘It was a special day,’ Andrew Wilson recalled, ‘one I will never forget. People were standing four and five deep while she paraded. She stopped for pats and photos, I couldn’t believe how calm she was.’
Everyone’s focus was, of course, on Black Caviar. The bay gelding at one stage walking in front of her in the pre-parade ring was barely noticed. Except by his proud owners, who observed how calmly he walked among the throng. ‘He took everything in his stride,’ said Andrew.
