Beauty's only the first step for Miss Universe contestant Rachael Finch

Beauty's only the first step for Miss Universe contestant Rachael Finch

Xanthe Kleinig



HENRY Petersen says schooling a Miss Universe contestant is like training a Melbourne Cup runner.

"Bart Cummings got 12 Melbourne Cup winners, but he didn't get them by two weeks' training," he said this week.

Model agent Petersen "discovered" Miss Universe Australia Rachael Finch, hot favourite for this year's pageant, on the tarmac at Townsville airport five years ago.

Now she is in the Bahamas, chasing success in the pageant that launched Jennifer Hawkins' modelling and presenting empire.

Aside from plenty of time on the catwalk, Finch has spent years - and good money - developing her physique and speaking skills in the hope of following in Hawkins' footsteps.

Her mother, Colleen Zablocki, has watched her daughter transform from a leggy, athletic teenager with gravel rash on her knees to an international model chasing stardom.

The two of them would try out catwalk moves and poses they saw on television.

"She would get ideas from those movies - if we saw something with modelling we'd talk about it. (It was) 'try this or try that'," Ms Zablocki said.

Since 2005, when Finch was runner-up in Gold Coast's Miss Indy, she has worked up to bigger competitions and bigger modelling contracts.

She drinks two litres of water a day and sticks to a virtually carb-free diet, avoiding alcohol.

At home, she would get up at 7am, swim six kilometres and come home for a healthy breakfast of bran, yoghurt and fruit.

"I'll never forget that because I used to look at it and think, 'oh yuck'," Ms Zablocki said.

Finch would then check news sites to develop her general knowledge and fit in a gym session -- she works out for 1 1/2 hours, five days a week.

Last year Finch entered the Miss Universe Australia competition in Townsville with 48 hours notice, winning the local heat but failing to make the top 10 in Melbourne.

The sultry look and sexy walk were already there but Finch was carrying too much "puppy fat" to make the grade.

Since that disappointment, she has taken her regime to another level - eating for her blood type, and taking on a personal trainer to get her body toning "spot-on".

"Eight hours a day would be her preparation," Ms Zablocki said.

After her Miss Australia win in April, Finch did a three-week course in television presentation to polish her speech and delivery style.

Getting to the level required of the Miss Universe finals is not for every model, but Petersen believes Finch has the drive - she has a daily schedule on her bedroom wall - to achieve the dream.

"It is there if she wants it," he said.

He has seen plenty of models give it all away . . . too much partying, unreliability, or dumping it all for a man.

"Boyfriends can ruin careers. They get jealous," he said.