Editor
Breaking news: The nation’s champion sprinting mare Black Caviar will be retired.
The announcement has been made, with a press conference by trainer Peter Moody currently being held live.
Part-owner Neil Werrett confirmed, while shedding tears, that she will be retired. Werrett thanked Moody Racing, her jockey Luke Nolen, and the Australian public.
Peter Moody said that she’d achieved all that could be achieved, and that ’25’ sounded like a good number to end on. He said he thought she’d be retired after Royal Ascot, and that he was grateful to have been able to give her three more runs on the racetrack.
“”The owners and myself have had a long chat for past couple of days,” said Moody, while holding back tears of his own.
“Collectively we decided the mare’s in great shape, we thought long and hard about racing at the international season.
“This afternoon at lunchtime we decided 25 was a great number.
“It’s been a very proud thing for me to put racing at the forefront of the sports pages for all of the right reasons.”
Moody couldn’t single out one performance above any other – telling reporters each and every win had been special for its own reasons.
Having given it her all in Sydney, Moody indicated he was more tempted to spell her for a return in the Spring. However, he thought that bowing out in this fashion, she’d never be thought of in a diminished light – stopping before anything could go wrong.
She finishes with 25 undefeated wins, including 15 Group 1 wins in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Royal Ascot, in the UK.
She’ll be paraded at Caulfield on Saturday in Melbourne.
Werrett said it was unlikely that her first ‘romance’ in the breeding barn would be with Frankel, now that they have decided to keep her in Australia. No decision has been made on a stallion for her.
Her half-brother, ‘Lot 131’, was recently sold for $5 million to Australian syndicate BC3 Racing.