The Caviar freak show continues to amaze all Relief ... Peter Moody and his foreman Tony Hayden. Obviously Black Caviar was special in Saturday's Lightning Stakes at Flemington. Sure, it was a whirlwind fast surface, emphasised by Niconoise breaking a 15-year-old 1700-metres record in the last on the program, but Black Caviar's effort (55.42 seconds for the 1000m) to eclipse the 55.5s, established 25 years ago, by Special, Australia's first million-dollar female sprinter, was exceptional. Carrying a kilo more than Special, the champ raced the clock without a Hay List barking at her heels. Brilliant types such as Satin Shoes, at full throttle under Craig Williams, couldn't match her cruising speed. "It was probably one of the best efforts," Williams later said. Satin Shoes was beaten more than seven lengths. Certainly Black Caviar was produced at peak as a six-year-old after looking a shadow of her true self at Royal Ascot in June. What a training performance by Peter Moody. Previously, it was difficult to imagine a sprinter being any better in their prime than Todman and Vain. But they didn't go for as long as Black Caviar, now with 23 straight, and it's difficult to envisage them being so good at six. Incidentally, Special, a Flemington straight-course sizzler which also won the Newmarket and Gadsden, was a dud at stud. A new Fireman? Was he a punter, attracted by a champion, or just like Eddie Birchley, the "Fireman," who loved red-hot odds? On Saturday, the newcomer, wearing a raincoat, launched into the bookmakers at the Randwick auditorium with $80,000 cash to have on Black Caviar. He was set for $60,000, including the $20,000 David Dwyer set him for after the jump at $1.10. Birchley backed Lord Dudley in the 1975 Flemington Sires' Produce so well bookmakers were forced to post 10/1 on. Lord Dudley scored but Birchley hit the headlines again in 1980 when charged for shoplifting, including a packet of sausages. Square in a blow Stress on trainers has surfaced with Peter Moody over Black Caviar. Yes, it was a great team effort, but the buck ends with Moody if the champ doesn't produce what is expected. However, it doesn't compare with battlers who are trying to hold together a crock to win a race to pay the feed bill (horse and human) and, if successful, to survive the analyst's report. Go back also to the trainer who had bet too well (with SP bookmakers) and couldn't pay. Two enforcers arrived at Rosehill during trackwork to instil a little urgency into the situation and, after a quick demolition job, cleaned their shoes and straightened ties. Staggering to his feet, bleeding profusely, the trainer asked: "Does that mean we are square?" Now that's trauma. Kind hand For 67 years, Bob Rowles kept the lid on the jockeys' rooms at Sydney racecourses that had the potential of being cesspools of corruption. The message to get to and from jockeys during race days is regarded as so important some jurisdictions lock them away from the outside world. Sydney had Rowles, who employed the true meaning of integrity and intelligence. He refereed bouts between George Moore and Athol Mulley as well as keeping a wary eye and ear for modern technical leaks. "Bob wasn't one to keep running to the stewards," said Ray Murrihy, the Racing NSW chief stipe. Many difficult circumstances he handled himself. There should be a hall of fame for officials such as Rowles, from whom the industry benefited so much. A few months back it was suggested to an Australian Turf Club official that a documentary be produced about him. It fell on deaf, or broke (in financial terms) ears. Meat mania The wits are running amok with the horse-meat scandal in Britain. "I believe horse meat tastes like Black Caviar," is an example. Once offered a horse-meat pizza in Padua, Italy, I declined, not knowing how it had been treated. Perhaps Overreach is a tad delicate - she was late to the enclosure, led to the start by the clerk, was second last into the gates - but the raw talent displayed and the time recorded taking the Widden at Rosehill indicated a highly promising two-year-old. However, the Widden honour roll, albeit with changes to distances and venues, is hardly bristling with subsequent Golden Slipper winners. Fast Clip, at $3.30, was 7.9 lengths from the winner in the first at Rosehill, just beating Soledad for the "award." Soledad ($3.50) finished a 6.4-length ninth in the seventh but may have got his tongue over the bit.