The mightiest mares - Makybe Diva and Black Caviar

Makybe Diva and Black Caviar seized the nation’s imagination with deeds never before seen.

Like a gripping film script, they were beset by bouts of adversity when their futures looked in doubt, but recovered to write another glorious chapter.

They have been afforded perhaps the highest honour in racing, with Group 1s named after them at Australia’s oldest sporting venue – Flemington. The Makybe Diva Stakes, over 1600m, and the Black Caviar Lightning, 1000 metres up the straight. 

Makybe Diva is forever captured in a statue overlooking the furlong pole at Flemington, where she hit the lead to become the first horse to win three Melbourne Cups. And homage can be paid to Black Caviar’s bronze statue at Nagambie, where she was born and bred.

Their stories are similar but different.

Blessed with the intelligence that defines most greats, they thrilled in different ways. Makybe Diva the mighty stayer could be manoeuvred easily into an optimum position. Within just 650 metres in that third Melbourne Cup, Glen Boss had found the fence from barrier 14. And then, towards the end of those 3200-metre marathons when so many rivals were gasping, her massive heart would make it appear she was only just beginning.

Black Caviar competed over roughly a third of that distance. She was sprinting, of course, but it looked like strolling, gliding with her giant, awesome stride while rivals’ legs moved twice as fast. She was like an equine Usain Bolt. She wouldn’t burst clear at the 200-metre mark; she would power to the lead between the 600 and 400 to get the “contest” over with, and coast to the line, accepting the cheers, supremely dominant.

The pair’s careers also followed different trajectories.

Makybe Diva had achieved much on the track, especially becoming the first mare to win two Melbourne Cups, but it wasn’t until the spring of 2005 she became a household name.

After top-level autumn wins in the Group 1 Australian Cup – in turf world-record time – and Rosehill’s Group 1 Tancred Stakes, she’d been to Japan amid high hopes of conquering the world stage. Yet her two runs yielded only seventh placings. Worse, the hard tracks there placed her future in serious doubt.

But her incredible powers of recovery were displayed again just a few months later. Now seven, in the Memsie Stakes over an unsuitable 1400 metres, she won first-up for the first time. A hair’s breadth second in the Feehan Stakes gave way to a return to Flemington for victory in the Group 2 Turnbull Stakes, and the excitement was building.

Would she become the first horse to win three Melbourne Cups? Would trainer Lee Freedman even attempt it?

When she won that unforgettable Group 1 Cox Plate 10 days prior, Makybe Mania erupted.

The beautiful dark bay mare was front and back page news. On grassy hillocks beside Lee Freedman’s Mornington base, dozens of cameras and reporters clamoured for vantage points to see her work. The trainer kept insisting she was no certainty to start, as if to build the suspense. As if.

Cup Day brought near hysteria, a massive crowd to see one horse, many wearing masks printed in her colours – a first on a racetrack.

The typical pre-Cup buzz grew gradually louder, and then it became unique. As TV commentators paused to take it in, the throng began a chant: ‘DI-VA! DI-VA! DI-VA!’ Up above, a skywriter hung those four giant letters in the sky.

Around the country, as on course, racing fans and others stood to cheer. Stuck on an ill-timed flight, Darwin radio identity Charlie King felt another perspective on the mare’s impact.

“Midway through, the captain came on with an announcement,” King recalls. “He just said: ‘She won!’

“The whole plane burst into applause. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up. Some people were in tears.”

Owner Tony Santic went to Flemington four days later and signed posters of the great horse. It couldn’t have been imagined, but just six years later Peter Moody and Luke Nolen battled writer’s cramp as hundreds queued for their autographs. On Super Saturday in 2011, featuring the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, they’d started pinching themselves over the story unfolding.

It’s difficult to rank Black Caviar’s highlights amid her phenomenal perfect 25. Was it digging deep to come again and win at Royal Ascot when clearly out of sorts? Was it then coming home to an assumed retirement, only to win thrice more, including a third Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning in a stunning record time of 55.42?

The Newmarket is hard to beat. She had more weight, 58kg, than any female winner of the race since 1906. Fans waved flags in her salmon and black colours – a feature that had begun the start before in her first Lightning – and they roared themselves hoarse, or stood in joyous wonder, when she won by three lengths.

“It was very gratifying to hear people’s stories, of where they’d come from to watch her race – Tassie, Broome, all over, it was Beatlemania type of stuff. And she’d still only had 10 starts.” - Peter Moody later reflected in his autobiography.

After the race, a table was erected for Moody and Nolen – still in his riding gear – as the fans wanted more. Even a clutch of Collingwood footballers lined up for autographs.

“We were there about two hours,” Moody said. “We didn’t get off the course until it was pretty dark.”

The cyclone that was Black Caviar was strengthening. 

“Makybe Diva was a good horse and everyone in racing knew that,” says Greg Miles, whose calls of both horses’ Melbourne highlights added notes to their glorious picture. “But it wasn’t until her third Melbourne Cup that she transcended racing and became a national hero.

“Black Caviar was different. She was very special from early on, and transcended racing from pretty early on. The fervour around her grew and grew, and she just became more popular, and more of a legend.

“Her impact could be seen in that everywhere she went, the crowds followed her. Course attendance records were broken, and people were coming just to see Black Caviar, and having a bet at $1.05 just to keep the ticket.” - Racecaller Greg Miles

Makybe Diva and Black Caviar still hold special places in the hearts and minds of Australians, and not just racing fans.

Whenever conversation turns to Melbourne Cup lore, it’s almost universally agreed that Makybe Diva’s hat-trick won’t be matched.

And try to imagine another horse going 25 starts unbeaten.

MAKYBE DIVA (GB)

FLEMINGTON WINS

2002 G2 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2500m)
2003 G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m)
2004 G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m)
2005 G1 Australian Cup (2000m)
2005 G2 Turnbull Stakes (2000m)
2005 G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m)

A THIRD CUP...

In 2005, she became the first horse to win a historic third Melbourne Cup, setting a weight record for a mare and further endearing herself to the Australian people. It would be her crowning moment and her final race, with Glen Boss taking the mare to the clocktower to acknowledge the record crowd that had assembled at Flemington. A champion and a legend …

WATCH - 2005 Melbourne Cup - MAKYBE DIVA (GB)

BLACK CAVIAR

FLEMINGTON WINS

2009 G2 Danehill Stakes (1200m)
2010 G1 Victoria Racing Club Stakes (1200m)
2011 G1 Lightning Stakes (1000m)
2011 G1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m)
2011 G1 Victoria Racing Club Stakes (1200m)
2012 G1 Lightning Stakes (1000m)
2013 G1 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m)

A THIRD LIGHTNING...

In 2013, competing in the race named in her honour, Black Caviar took out her third Lightning, a 23rd win in succession. She stamped the win breaking a 25-year course record, completing the 1000-metre feature in 55.42 seconds. Unbeaten, unparalleled, perfect …

WATCH - 2013 Black Caviar Lightning - BLACK CAVIAR