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| Staff Writer |
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Colin Madden has experienced what it's like to be the proud owner of a champion thoroughbred; he once owned a piece of Black Caviar, widely considered to be Australia's greatest ever sprinter. Rosehill stable owners Colin and Jannene Madden are hoping their Everest contender Masked Crusader can accomplish what the great mare never could.
Masked Crusader may not have the same level of talent or ability as Black Caviar, but he will surpass her total career earnings of just over $7 million if he is successful in the $15-million Everest on his second attempt at Randwick on Saturday.
“Black Caviar gave me the courage to do stupid things,” Madden said on Thursday.
“We wouldn’t be here without her. We had horses before her, but not many. She enabled us to do things and be involved in things, we never thought could happen. Black Caviar had well and truly retired when The Everest came up, but we put our hands up to be involved in this slot. She would have made it more fun, and we probably would have won it by now,” Madden opined
“We’ve been close with a couple of seconds,” said Werrett, who also owns a share in Masked Crusader. “Colin and I get the best of both worlds with Masked Crusader. It’s why we went into The Everest concept to try and win it with one of our horses. He came so close to beating Nature Strip last year, and it made it easy to pick him again. We had always been one of the last to pick our horse for The Everest, but this year we locked in Masked Crusader before Christmas, so we have been waiting 12 months for Saturday,” Werrett added.