Black Caviar

[knocker 39,516]

Well she won her 22nd consecutive race (never been beaten}. No thanks to her jockey. Come back Lester all is foregiven. Only 1.9 secs outside the record which, given the ground, is pretty remarkable.

[rob48 132]

Strange race, jockey obviously underestimated the opposition and tried to win with her head in her chest.

[Bristle boy 8,261]

Well she won her 22nd consecutive race (never been beaten}. No thanks to her jockey. Come back Lester all is foregiven. Only 1.9 secs outside the record which, given the ground, is pretty remarkable.

Don't know what the jockey was playing at, though?!

He has just said he'd underestimated the tough Ascot straight.

Still - onto my regular favourite punting races on Saturdays - a big handicap cavalry charge - and today at Ascot it's the Wokingham - 3 against the field for me - Desert Law, Medicean Man and High Standing.

[knocker 39,516]

I heard him say that. I couldn't believe it when he just stopped riding. He was lucky she picked up just enough. If I was him I wouldn't open the Aussie papers tomorrow.

[Bristle boy 8,261]

And they've decided to take her home - won't be going to the July Cup at Newmarket.

[rob48 132]

Don't know what the jockey was playing at, though?!

He has just said he'd underestimated the tough Ascot straight.

Still - onto my regular favourite punting races on Saturdays - a big handicap cavalry charge - and today at Ascot it's the Wokingham - 3 against the field for me - Desert Law, Medicean Man and High Standing.

Morache Music and Mac's Power for me.

[Kain 200]

Shes a class filly, the jock almost cost her the streak. Heads would roll if I were the trainer. Still think Frankel is a superior horse though.

[knocker 39,516]

You really can't compare them.

[Kain 200]

You really can't compare them.

Why not? In competition no, shes a sprinter and he's a miler but in greatness and achievement you can. Willie Carson was doing just that this afternoon - comparing them, times top speeds etc. So yes you can compare them. I personally think Frankel has achieved more.

[keithlucky 1,321]

Why not? In competition no, shes a sprinter and he's a miler but in greatness and achievement you can. Willie Carson was doing just that this afternoon - comparing them, times top speeds etc. So yes you can compare them. I personally think Frankel has achieved more.

Yes timings over 3 furlongs 6 furlongs nothing compares to Frankel hes is the flat racehorse of the century greatest we will ever see.

[rob48 132]

Yes timings over 3 furlongs 6 furlongs nothing compares to Frankel hes is the flat racehorse of the century greatest we will ever see.

Correct.

It's obvious you can compare them, as you can any horses over the same rules.

That's what makes horse racing almost unique because there are official handicap ratings and times which transcend generations.

Frankel's a better horse than Black Caviar and better than any other flat horse I've ever seen, by some way.

[knocker 39,516]

The great horse has been retired. © The Times

 

Farewell to Black Caviar, the horse that stopped a nation

 

Last Saturday, amid tumultuous scenes in Sydney, the horizons of Black Caviar had apparently expanded. There was excited talk of further targets in the autumn and even, intriguingly, of a valedictory trip to Ascot in 2014. Four days later, all bets were off. The great mare has run her last race.

 

Few would have been surprised by retirement after she struggled to a heart-stopping win on her fêted appearance at the royal meeting last June. Conquering the barriers of travel and alien conditions, winning when plainly not quite herself, all pointed to appropriate farewell.

 

Yet she returned to race, and win, three more times, if possible looking better than ever at six. So the change of heart, announced yesterday in Melbourne, took the racing world aback. It also brought intense disappointment for the promoters of Ascot, the breeders with ambitions to mate her with Frankel, and the global community of racing fans she had done so much to swell.

 

Peter Moody, her trainer, offered no pressing reason other than instinct. “She has probably never looked better,†he admitted. “We thought long and hard about racing for another season. We thought about Royal Ascot. But we thought this was the right time to finish.â€

 

Whether driven by sentiment or physical evidence, it was deflating news for all who have been captivated by a career that transcended the often parochial nature of racing and presented a racehorse in the image of a national team, with all the attendant devotion and decorations.

Her achievements will be engraved in turf history. She won all her 25 races, 15 of them at the elite group one level, and accrued more than £4.5 million in prize money. In winning an eighth successive group one last weekend, she broke an Australian record that had stood since 1946.