27-01-2012 |
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: Black Caviar wins her fifteenth straight race
BLACK Caviar takes aim at successive win No.17 tonight in the Australia Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley. Coincidentally, that is the same streak that trotter Sushi Sushi is targeting in the Ballarat Cup tomorrow night. Black Caviar is, of course, the world champion sprinter, a crown imprinted on her figurative forehead for the past two seasons, the world's best racemare and the highest-ever ranking Australian horse. She has her own website, her own cheer squad and keeps the turnstiles clicking like no other horse in the modern era, and with women and men decked out in her salmon and black spots colours. It is no coincidence the Caulfield Guineas meeting, which featured Black Caviar, outdrew the Caulfield Cup, which was minus Caviar. This equine locomotive is a fast-moving headline that transcends the sport much in the way Makybe Diva, Kingston Town, Tulloch, and, of course, Phar Lap did. While Black Caviar is known worldwide, Sushi Sushi is relatively unknown outside the cottage industry of the standardbred. That is not to downplay the achievements of Sushi Sushi - a champion in his own right - but simply a reflection of where harness racing sits in today's super-competitive sporting landscape. Numbered among Black Caviar's unbeaten 16 straight wins is seven Group 1s and a bankroll of $4.3 million, a figure that's likely to grow to more than $5 million before she heads to England mid-year for Royal Ascot. Her streak spans 33 months and leaves her only three wins shy of the Australasian consecutive win streak jointly held by Gloaming and Desert Gold. It is a coveted record that has stood for more than 90 years. Even the iconic Phar Lap failed to break it. Trainer Peter Moody is running out of words to describe Black Caviar, just like she is running out of worthy rivals. Moody believes Black Caviar is in the best shape of her career and has his sights on beating champion American mare Zenyatta's modern day record of 19 consecutive wins. "If she gets as far as that (19 wins), and I am very confident she will, I just want to see her 20th run in Australia," Moody said. "I think the industry here deserves it. If she can go 20 out of 20, I would love to see it here in Australia. I desperately want to see it here." Although Black Caviar's owners hope she can race another season at least, it is a sobering thought that the rising six-year-old mare is closer to the end of her career than the beginning. "Any run she has now could be her farewell," Moody said, adding he wouldn't hesitate to retire the mare if he felt she was no longer capable of producing her absolute best. "I have done it (retire) before with (2011 Horse of the Year) Typhoon Tracy and I wouldn't hesitate to do the same with this mare. "We want to see her 110 per cent, so that if at any stage along the way I don't think that's the case, I wouldn't hesitate to one, stop the preparation, and two, recommend retirement to her owners." |
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