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Australian's champion sprinting mare stretched her unbeaten run to a record twenty victories with another clinical display in Saturday's Group 1 Sportingbet Robert Sangster Stakes over 1200m at Morphettville.
Photo by Racing and Sports
A huge crowd of around 30,000 swelled Morphettville racecourse to see Black Caviar create history by breaking the long standing record for the number of consecutive wins on a metropolitan racecourse which had stood at 19, jointly held by Gloaming (1921) and Desert Gold (1916).
Racing for the first time since winning a titanic battle over Hay List in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes down the straight 1000m at Flemington 70 days prior, Black Caviar looking somewhat burly and open to considerable improvement ahead of her Royal Ascot trip, toyed with her rivals winning by a comfortable four-and-a-half lengths.
There is no doubt this was a “soft” target for the great mare, and one that would achieve Moody's immediate goals of finding a suitable starting point for a campaign that will take her across the world while at the same time clinching the record for the most number of consecutive wins on Australasian racetracks.
The Sportingbet Robert Sangster Stakes is a race restricted to fillies and mares under weight for age conditions, so barring the unthinkable, the race were always going to be an easy assignment for her, as on ratings she had six lengths or more over most of the field.
Black Caviar was not out to break time or be exhausted from over exertion so race rider Luke Nolen was very “kind” to the wonder mare from down under letting her stride up to the leaders turning for home then letting her have just a working gallop for the last 400m or so, idling to the line.
Not surprisingly Black Caviar ran to a Timeform rating well below her best figure returning a 128+ figure but with much more still to come. As an aside, Black Caviar also ran to the same figure when resuming in her last campaign winning the Group 2 Australia Stakes over 1200m at Moonee Valley.
After the race Black Caviar “blew” up rather noticeably and the run will bring her on considerably for her next run in the Group 1 Goodwood sprint (1200m) also at Morphettville in a fortnight – her last race in Australia before heading off overseas.
Black Caviar has now won 19 stakes races in her 20 victories including ten Group 1 wins, placing her second behind the great Sunline who has won the most Group 1 races, 13 in total since the introduction of Listed race classifications in Australia in 1979.
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