Time was right for Caviar

Peter Moody’s decision to abandon Black Caviar’s Brisbane campaign caught a few people unawares, but it is typical of Moody, the trainer, not the Moody the reluctant PR agent – the horse comes first, no if, no buts.

Despite the fact Moody has embraced the media fervour in Black Caviar – “for the good of racing” – he knows that there is a limit to how much he, the owners and the mare owes the racing industry when it comes to the crunch.

In wasn’t surprised Moody has abandoned plans to go to the well one more time in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m, Doomben) on Saturday week. Three things that concerned me about Black Caviar’s Group 1 BTC Cup win –

Firstly, the mare looked “tight” before the race, as light as she has been all year. I suspect Moody was conscious of that fact even going into the race.

Secondly, I believe it was probably the first time jockey Luke Nolen has found the bottom of Black Caviar under pressure. He asked her to do a lot, coming three wide from the 600m, and she had to dig deep when he asked her to run down Hay List, who was in full flight. Nolen didn’t cane her with the whip, Black Caviar is not that type of horse because she gives her best at her top, but in the case, I doubt she had any more to in the tank – she carved out her final 600m out wide in 34.5 seconds

Finally, and more importantly, Black Caviar, who in the past has recovered from her wins as though she has just been on a canter in the park, was still blowing heavily 10 minutes after the race. Moody, despite all the euphoria post-race, wouldn’t have missed that point. It’s a sure sign that the mare was coming to the end of a long campaign.

Black Caviar, who had a protected early racing life due to a few niggling problems, has been asked to do a lot in season 2010/11. She has been in work for nearly months, with only one break in between – about a month late in 2010, some of which she spent on the walker-walker at Peter Clarke’s Murchison rehab farm.

It’s been a long, tough campaign, mainly because she has been competing at the highest level. She kicked off in the 2010 spring carnival with a Group 2 win in the Schillaci Stakes (1000m, Caulfield, October), and two weeks later she won the Group 2 Schweppes Stakes (1000m) at Moonee Valley before embarking on a Group 1 winning spree of six races in three states.

Moody said recently it is the first time in Black Caviar’s career that she has been injury-free. His decision to stop her campaign now rather than run in Saturday week’s Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m, Doomben) is the right call. It give him an extra two weeks – valuable at this time of the year – to rest her before she starts on her spring preparation.

It’s likely that Black Caviar will have around five weeks in the paddock in the warmth of Queensland. At this stage the Moody camp are protective about whether the mare will remain in Queensland to spell or return to Victoria – or somewhere in between. Obviously, the last thing Moody wants is for the mare’s rest to be disturbed by prying media and eager public.

As tempted as Moody might be to be sitting on his back porch whittling away on stick, watching over his great mare in a back paddock of his Belgrave farm, at the foothills of the Dandenongs, near Melbourne, the choice of warm over cold is an option rejected by few Melbournians at this time of the year.

The rule of thumb with most trainers is for horses that spell for a month usually take 10-12 weeks to get back to racing fitness. Black Caviar is likely to be back in light work by July 1, and it’s my guess she will be at Moody’s stables at Caulfield by August 1. Moody will follow a similar path to last year – Schillaci at Caulfield in mid-October, Schweppes at Moonee Valley at the end of October and the Patinack Farm Classic at Flemington. After that a decision will be made on her running in the Group 1 Hong Kong International Sprint at Sha Tin in December.

Next year I suspect that the boffins at Royal Ascot will be opening their cheque books to entice a reluctant Black Caviar camp to their famous meeting in June. Sometimes being reluctant to travel can have its rewards.