Get your backside trackside for the greatest show on turf - Sydney Morning Herald

No chink in the armour: Black Caviar. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

Once in a generation – maybe every couple of generations – there is a horse that cuts across the boundaries that separate the racing industry from the general public. Black Caviar is that horse.

Her unbeaten aura makes people want to watch, even if they have not been touched by the magic of the sport. More than 25,000 turned up last Friday night, most of whom were not there for the seven other races, but for the last, and for one horse. Everyone makes tracks trackside when the great mare is about to run; jockeys and trainers look on, hoping they can find one like her (they won't); bookmakers leave their stands to watch how the money will leave their bags – however, the $1.04 bet these days means the damage isn't that bad.

The criticism of her opposition at win No. 24 in isolation could be valid, but she still accounted for a couple of group 1 winners.

Jockeys came under the spotlight for their rides in the William Reid, but with Black Caviar there has not been a chink in the armour yet – if you don't count the near thing at Royal Ascot, when both horse and rider had an off-day.

The only horse that has consistently been able to test Black Caviar waits for her in Sydney. Hay List has finished second on four occasions to the great mare. He has tried a couple of different tactics to unseat her but none has worked so far.

Their next clash, in the T. J. Smith at Randwick on April 13, will draw a capacity crowd for the first official day of the new grandstand, only half of which will be open.

Black Caviar is the biggest star in sport but the support acts aren't too bad. Pierro is the poster boy for the Sydney Carnival and he lived up to that reputation in the Canterbury Stakes at Rosehill last Saturday.

He is unbeaten in his hometown and will star the two Saturdays either side of Black Caviar day – or Derby day, if you're a traditionalist. He will run in the George Ryder before backing up in the Doncaster. He has already been called a freak.

Pierro's fellow three-year-olds are so strong and classy they are proving more than a match for their older rivals. They are set to light up the carnival over the next five weeks.

The once-in-a-generation mare, the freak and friends should make it compulsory to get to the track.