Don’t knock Nellie: ARB at fault for Caviar carve-up

On Friday night in Melbourne, Black Caviar will canter to one of her the easiest wins.

In the William Reid Stakes (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age) the undefeated champion mare will take on six other horses in what is the weakest field she has met in over a year.

Black Caviar’s stiffest competition comes via Spirit Of Boom and Karuta Queen – honest sprinters that would be best placed in a Group 2 Handicap – not the highest level of racing. The rest of the field is made-up of milers, most of which can be regarded as belonging to the second tier as well.

Quite strangely, you could argue that in spite of the ‘no contest’ it promises to be, the William Reid is the biggest sporting event to be held in Australia this weekend.

A crowd of 25,000 is expected to filter into Moonee Valley and the race will be broadcast live on five Australian television channels – including Channel 7, during half time of their AFL coverage.

If her last win is anything to go by, over one million Australians could be watching Black Caviar on Friday night.

The William Reid will also be beamed live, on cable television, right around the world. It mightn’t be very big but Black Caviar has global reach.

Yet racing isn’t getting the most out of this unprecedented interest. It’s always nice to watch Black Caviar win but it would be far more intriguing if she had genuine competition.

I’ve often criticised Black Caviar’s connections for taking the easiest option with their mare. I did it when they (in hindsight, correctly) bypassed a clash with Frankel and I voiced my disappointment when they decided against a start in this month’s Newmarket Handicap.

But Black Caviar hasn’t been hidden. When it is announced that she will line-up in a race, almost invariably, she has.

And in a true indication of her quality, Nellie’s presence in a field has sometimes scared away all creditable opposition. That is a big reason why I think Black Caviar is a living legend.

But with better management, we could’ve been treated to a classic race involving Black Caviar this weekend.

In a ridiculous situation, 16 hours after Black Caviar wins Friday night’s William Reid, two more of racing’s stars, Pierro and More Joyous, will compete at Rosehill in the Canterbury Stakes– a race with almost identical conditions to the William Reid.

Like the William Reid, the Canterbury is also a Group 1 weight-for-age race. The only difference is that the Canterbury Stakes, a 1300m race, is 100m longer than its Victorian counterpart.

I can’t understand how a programming blunder like this is allowed to happen. The Australian Racing Board must be living on another planet. How much depth do they think we have over a sprint trip in this country?

Undoubtedly, our best sprinters will match it with the best in the world but I don’t think Australian racing has ever had enough quality to be running the same Group 1 on consecutive days.

If the Melbourne Festival of Racing begun two weeks earlier, in the last week of January instead of the second week of February, this problem would have been averted.

And instead of this lunacy, we’d be debating the tactics More Joyous and Pierro should use to trouble Black Caviar.

In any case, the trio may end up clashing next month in the All Aged Stakes (1400m, Group 1, weight-for-age) – and while I’m salivating at the prospect – I can’t wait for the day Australian racing stops shooting itself in the foot.