When Stephen Baster heard there would be two-year-old representation in this year’s Black Caviar Lightning, to be run at Flemington this Saturday, he couldn’t help but think back to 1993.
That was the year that the jockey, a claiming apprentice at the time, partnered a juvenile in Australia’s only 1000-metre Group 1 event.
Baster partnered the John Leek Jnr-trained Clever Zoe into second place, beaten by champion Schillaci, in what was the last time a two-year-old contested the Lightning.
He remembers it clearly for not only almost defeating a champion, but because of the shock to the system that it was for a young jockey who had never experienced weight-related issues.
“I reckon I would have been walking around probably 47 kilos at the time and she had 43 kilos but I rode her one over at 44,” Baster recalled.
“I think I only had a week’s notice and I’d never dieted or wasted in my life, so I had to try and drop four kilos in a week, which is a hell of a lot.
“But I did it OK. Obviously it would have dropped off me pretty quickly because I’d never done it before and I don’t remember feeling too bad.”
Baster went into the race with a plan to try and make use of the weight advantage. He scooted along in the lead aboard the daughter of Pompeii Court and it was only in the concluding stages that they were reeled in, narrowly denying Clever Zoe her spot in history.
The Colin Hayes-trained Desirable, the 1976 Lightning winner, is the last two-year-old to win the race.
“She flew along in front at a 100-mile-an-hour and the mighty Schillaci came up alongside me and got me probably at the 100m mark,” Baster said. “She did a good job.
“I haven’t seen many two-years-olds like her. She was more like a three-year-old, she was a big strong thing and she was quite mature for a two-year-old.”
Clever Zoe, a nine-length winner of the Debutante Stakes on debut, had just three more starts after the Lightning. After choking down in the Blue Diamond Stakes she underwent a throat operation but her racetrack career was aborted after two unsuccessful comeback runs.
Baster is happy to leave the wasting to others this year with Dean Yendall to ride confirmed starter Boomwaa in the $500,000 Black Caviar Lightning, while Dean Holland will have the job aboard Bugatty if the Hawkes Racing colt runs.
“It’s always hard for the two-year-olds against the older sprinters, because they’ve got race experience on their side,” Baster said.
“That makes it hard, but the weight does make a big difference.”
– Racing Victoria