A meeting today with Peter Moody and Black Caviar’s owners will help sort out the mighty mare’s immediate racing future and long term breeding options.
Black Caviar winning the William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Black Caviar once again made her opposition look second rate with a four length victory in the Group 1 $400,000 Hacer Group William Reid Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley taking her unbeaten record to twenty-four straight wins.
Moody has pencilled in the Group 1 $1m Darley T J Smith (1200m) at Randwick on April 13 as the great mare’s next outing while part owners Neil Werrett and Gary Wilkie hinted that a return trip to Royal Ascot hasn’t been completely wiped off the table.
“It is most likely she will run in the T.J. but we all agreed after Friday night to let things settle down for a couple of days before talking with Peter Moody,” Werrett said.
“I haven’t really had much of a chance to talk with Peter since she won at Moonee Valley but I spoke to him briefly and he said the mare had pulled up really well.”
Werrett added if Black Caviar was to make a return trip to England, a run in the T J Smith could still be on the agenda.
“She can do both,” Werrett said.
Gary Wilkie said that the future would become clearer after the meeting and the prospect of mating with the world’s former number one racehorse Frankel would be the telling point if Black Caviar was to race again at Royal Ascot.
“The only reason you would go to Royal Ascot is that we are going to go to Frankel,” Wilkie said.
“We’re not going to go to Royal Ascot if we can’t go to Frankel.
“That’s the issue not all the other bits and pieces. We have got a lot of decisions to make.”
Moody and his team ventured to the United Kingdom last year and admitted that Black Caviar wasn’t at her best when she scrambled home for an historical win in the Group 1 £500,000 The Diamond Jubilee Stakes (6 furlongs) at Royal Ascot on June 23.
Black Caviar’s William Reid victory took her Group 1 wins to fourteen, joining the legendary Kingston Town’s long standing record and pushed her overall prizemoney to over $7.3 million from her twenty-four wins.
Racing Queensland Limited Chairman Kevin Dixon is anxiously awaiting if Black Caviar’s team is intending to extend her Australian campaign to the Brisbane Winter Carnival so plans could begin to accommodate the biggest race crowd on a Brisbane racetrack in recent years.
“We would want to make this the biggest event on a Queensland racetrack in memory,” Dixon said.
“It would also be a chance for Peter Moody to be given the grand stage – something he richly deserves for what he has achieved with this horse – in his home state.”
