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OK I will say it – I am dirty on Peter Moody and his owners for retiring their champion Black Caviar.
Why? Why now?
Seemingly the only reason is because she will remain unbeaten on 25 wins which includes 15 Group 1 wins.
You didn’t see Byron Nelson retire when he won 11 tournaments in a row in 1945 or ‘the great one’, Wayne Gretzky, when he blitzed the points record streak of 51.
You didn’t see Pakistani squash freak Jahangir Khan turn it up when he put 555 wins together or our very own Heather McKay who went unbeaten for 19 years.
What about our cricket team who won a record 16 Test matches consecutively, and don’t forget the 21 ODIs and the 26 World Cup matches.
When Black Caviar won her second TJ Smith and took her record past Kingston Town to 15 Group 1 wins she still had more to do. She is still one win shy of John Henry and the great jumper Kauto Star’s 16 wins.
She also had one more Group 1 win to go to equal Zenyatta and Frankel, who hold the record of 9 consecutive Group 1 wins.
It is not as if the wonder mare was injured or past her best. Peter Moody said she has retired at her prime and based on her TJ performance, she certainly looked as untouchable as ever.
No doubt the camp would have been mindful of what happened to Zenyatta when she won her first 19 races and was beaten a head in the Breeders Classic in her last run in 2010.
Here is what I struggle with.
Black Caviar cost $210,000 as a yearling and the owners, G. J. Wilkie, K. J. Wilkie, Werrett Bloodstock Pty Ltd, C. H. Madden, J. Madden, P. A. Hawkes, D. M. Taylor and J. Taylor wanted to a race a horse.
They own this magnificent animal that has done so much good for the industry and given so many fans, including thousands of children, so much pleasure and now when she is at the top of her game they decide to pull the pin.
Go figure!
The chances of her being beaten if she has a few more starts are remote, but surely the greater good should have won out.
The racing industry is in decline and fans prefer to stay at home or go to their club, or worse, switch to online casinos or poker.
Black Caviar was the one marketing pitch that could hit a home run and not only get the fans back to the track, but uncover new followers.
I feel sorry for Queensland racing who moved a Group 1 race to the bigger Eagle Farm to accommodate the adoring crowd with the hope of see the wonder mare, and now are left with ‘if onlys’.
But what really gets into my craw is that the English keep saying: ‘she only won in a photo finish’.
Surely the best way for Black Caviar to say goodbye would be for her to go back to Royal Ascot and put five or six lengths on the Diamond Jubilee field and really show our friends in mother England.
If only!
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