Black Caviar performs at least 10lb below her best
24 Jun 2012 | Racenews Newslink Black Caviar came to Britain as officially the second best racehorse in the world after winning all 21 of her racecourse appearances.
Although Peter Moody’s mare maintained her unbeaten record in the Group One Diamond Jubilee Stakes, it was not in the fashion many expected, as she held off the challenge of French raider Moonlight Cloud by a diminishing head, with Restiadargent a neck further back in third.
Phil Smith, the British Horseracing Authority’s head of handicapping said: “Black Caviar has performed at least 10 and possibly more pounds below her best rating of 132, which she achieved last year.
“It’s understandable because it is the equivalent of December for her so it’s the end of a long year and you could compare it to when our horses go to Hong Kong in December and find it difficult.
“You could see from her coat she didn’t look a million dollars and she isn’t used to a track like this with a stiff uphill finish, plus the wind was against her.
“So a lot of things were conspiring against her, but I am pleased she has won. The most important wasn’t that she got a rating near Frankel, but that she won and she has done that.
“Clearly she has not run anywhere near her best. It’s a difficult race to rate because there are a lot of not great horses near the front and I suspect Black Caviar will get quite a low rating for this race.”