By MIKE DILLON
Katherine Kotulski sobbed into her hand and whispered: "Thank you, Sunline, you're the greatest."
The 28-year-old was the last person to bid the champion mare farewell off the Moonee Valley racetrack on Saturday.
The tears were not all for Sunline, Kotulski had just become engaged, off the back of Sunline
you might say.
Her boyfriend, Melbourne financial analyst David Brabazon, had let Sunline propose for him. Brabazon had a silk horse rug made and embroidered it with the words: "Kasia, will you marry me, David."
The 31-year-old phoned Sunline's trainer Trevor McKee in New Zealand last month and asked to put the rug on Sunline after she ran her final race in Saturday's Cox Plate, in which she finished fourth.
In the carpark, Brabazon distracted his girlfriend while Trevor McKee placed the rug on the mare.
Seconds later Brabazon made his silent proposal. Guess what the answer was.
A Sky Television camera crew, there to shoot Sunline leaving a racetrack for the last time, captured the moment.
When Kotulski composed herself she explained she and her boyfriend had been Sunline fans for years.
"The walls at home are covered in photos of her."
Kasia, she said, was the traditional Polish name for Katherine.
The emotion of the moment filled the eyes of the Sky presenter with tears.
Trevor McKee declared that though Saturday was going to be the most emotional day of his racing career, there would be no tears.
But it came very close.
