Black Knight (horse)

Black Knight was a dark bay horse bred in Western Australia by his owner Robert Holmes à Court,^[2] a South-African born businessman described during the 1980s as Australia's richest man.^[3] He was sired by Silver Knight, a New Zealand-bred stallion who won the 1971 Melbourne Cup. The horse was sent into training with the veteran George Hanlon at his training base at Leopold, Victoria.^[4] Black Knight was gelded early in his life and usually raced in blinkers.

Black Knight established himself as a contender for the 1984 Melbourne Cup when finishing placed behind Chagemar in the Geelong Cup and The Dalgety. In the build-up to the race, the gelding was the subject of a major gamble, being backed down from odds of 50/1 to 11/1 shortly before the event.^[5] Despite the support of betters, Black Knight's regular jockey Robert Heffernan rejected him, preferring to ride Martian's Son. The Sydney-based jockey Peter Cook, who had only ever seen the horse on television, was booked to take the ride on four days before the race.^[6] In the Cup, Black Knight carried 50kg started at odds of 10/1 in a field of nineteen runners. Cook sent him into the lead 250 metres from the finish and he stayed on to win by two and a half lengths from Chagemar. His success gave Hanlon his third success in the race following Piping Lane in 1972 and Arwon in 1978.^[7]