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Courtesy
of The Age (story by Andrew Eddy)
 Saturday
4 February, 2012:
BLACK Caviar could grace the
international stage three months before her date before the Queen at Royal
Ascot in June, with a trip to Dubai next month for a $1.8 million payday
''highest on the priority list'' for the unbeaten mare this autumn.
Managing owner Neil Werrett
confirmed a ground-breaking trip overseas next month to Dubai dominated
discussions when the owners of Black Caviar had a lunch meeting with trainer
Peter Moody in South Melbourne yesterday. ''Dubai is the highest on the
priority list now,'' he said, before adding the trip would only be
undertaken if it did not interfere with the No. 1 stable goal of a win at
Royal Ascot in England.
Moody said while no firm
decisions had been made on the world champion sprinter's program after her
19th start, in the Futurity Stakes at Caulfield on February 25, a run in the
group 1 $2 million Golden Shaheen on the artificial Tapeka track over 1200
metres in Dubai on March 31 appealed.
'Dubai wasn't really on the
radar but it's on the table, as are a number of options,'' Moody said
yesterday. ''The Dubai trip was probably a 10 per cent chance but now, I'd
say it's 50-50. If she went to Dubai, it would certainly break up her trip
to England. There is 10 weeks in between the two races, so that presents a
few problems but I am familiar with the logistics of it all and it's an
option we are thinking about. She'd already had all her vaccinations for the
trip to England, so that wouldn't be a concern if she was to go to Dubai.''
Black Caviar will run next in
seven days when she tackles 1400 metres for the first time in the group 1
Orr Stakes at Caulfield. Two weeks later she returns to the same course for
the group 1 Futurity in what is expected to be the unbeaten mare's 19th
consecutive victory.
When asked if that meant Black
Caviar's tilt at the worldwide, modern-day record of 20 undefeated starts
would come in Dubai, Moody said that was not necessarily the case. ''She
could have one more run in Melbourne if she was to go to Dubai,'' he said.
When asked if the $1 million
Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on March 10 was among those options, he
said: ''It's probably a similar [50-50] chance to Dubai.''
Being a handicap, Black Caviar
would be asked to carry a record weight of at least 60 kilograms if she was
to go for her 20th win in the Newmarket. But what a salivating prospect that
would provide for the Victoria Racing Club. But Moody said races like the
group 1 Sangster Stakes in Adelaide or the group 1 TJ Smith Stakes at
Randwick in April were also viable options.
If Black Caviar runs in Dubai,
she will race for the $1.2 million first prize, as well as a $600,000 bonus
offered by the Victoria Racing Club for any horse that can win the Patinack
Farm Stakes on the final day of the spring carnival and any other of the
nine legs of the global sprint challenge. If she then went to England and
won either the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot or the July Cup at
Newmarket, she would be eligible for two more bonuses. The VRC is also
paying a Patinack Farm bonus of a further $600,000 for any horse that wins a
leg of the global sprint challenge and the Patinack Farm Stakes in the same
year. A win in England would make Black Caviar eligible for a further $1
million bonus for winning three legs of the global sprint challenge in the
same calendar year. |
