I was lying in bed last night having just watched a show on Australian sprinters, when it occurred to me that it might be time to assess the career of Black Caviar, having allowed sometime for all the nonsense to subside.
I picked out the main sprinters of the last 50 years (although some will consider that I’ve missed one or two) and decided on a set of criteria and gave a value to each of these criteria.
I understand that this is totally subjective and both criteria and value are up for debate, but I’m sure most of the criteria would appear in anyone’s assessment. It would be the importance given that would be the debate.
Of note is that I’ve rewarded horses that have won Group 1s outside the sprinting distances (1000-1400 metres) and horses that have been dominant (expressed in either margins or times).
Also, if horses have shown an ability to rise above injury or carry big weights then that was rewarded also.
Anyway, the final assessments are below. I’m happy to give the reasoning behind every rating on a case by case basis.
| Name | G1% | SR% | Versatility | Longevity | Dominance | Variance | Bar raising | Total |
| Black Caviar | 60 | 100 | 10 | 25 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 235 |
| Vain | 85 | 50 | 20 | 14 | 20 | 7.5 | 20 | 216.5 |
| Manikato | 23 | 61 | 20 | 47 | 10 | 7.5 | 20 | 188.5 |
| Luskin Star | 41 | 76 | 10 | 17 | 20 | 7.5 | 5 | 176.5 |
| Takeover Target | 19 | 52 | 10 | 41 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 156 |
| Placid Ark | 33 | 66 | 10 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 145 |
| Miss Andretti | 16 | 61 | 10 | 31 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 143 |
| Baguette | 22 | 48 | 20 | 31 | 5 | 7.5 | 5 | 138.5 |
| Squillaci | 22 | 44 | 10 | 36 | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 134.5 |
| Apache Cat | 18 | 44 | 10 | 43 | 5 | 7.5 | 5 | 132.5 |
G1%: Percentage of Group 1 wins from total races ran
SR%: Percentage of wins from total races ran
Versatility: Distances won at (marked out of 20)
Longevity: Races won
Dominance: Margins won by. Times recorded (marked out of 20)
Variance: Different locations won at (marked out of 10)
Bar raising: ability to meet challenges e.g. weight, injury (marked out of 20)
paulywalnuts
Guest
Read my comment below about sprinters going out in distance. It doesn't happen anymore because it doesn't have to. And it's silly to put arbitrary things like HK as benchmarks. Their race is sometimes weak, sometimes strong, we see that some horses perform at their best when travelling, some don't. But if you want to look at the form through BC, Ortensia finished a length and a half off JJ the Jet Plane, Rocket Man and Sacred Kingdom in one of the strongest editions, a few weeks after a 6L flogging from BC in the Patinack. It's like Frankel in the Arc. Didn't run but hardly needed to to prove his greatness. To anyone who follows the sport, these things should be obvious.
fiddlesticks
Guest
she was great but never tried over longer distances, some of those group 1 and 2 races were very ordinary and never went to Honkers. all great horses race in that type of quality race
paulywalnuts
Guest
Raced 20 of 25 starts in open company at Group 2 level or above. Was thrown in the deep end at start 5 an other than one race in restricted mares company stayed there the rest of her career. If it seemed without "risk" it's simply a testament to how good she was.
fiddlesticks
Guest
so you agree with what i said? never took big risks
paulywalnuts
Guest
One slight query though- Schillaci won a Ryder, shouldn't he get more for versatility?
paulywalnuts
Guest
Interesting exercise and well done TBS. Just on versatility, I think that will be a relic of the past moving forward. Even in Schillachi and Hareeba's day there was no TJ and top sprinters were more or less forced into the Ryder/Doncaster. The Group 1 sprint in the Flemington carnival used to the handicap. Throw in international options and nowadays sprinters can just be sprinters, and will continue to do so. As for BC, too young to remember some on your list but a class above anything I've seen over any distance in this neck of the woods in the last 30 years, and the only Australian horse I'd put in the Frankel/Deep Impact/Dubai Millenium etc category worldwide, those at the very top. Out and out superstar.
Cudoit
Guest
Why ? Because it's all true ?
paulywalnuts
Guest
61.5kg actually. But that basic error was probably the highlight of your post...it really went downhill from there.
Cudoit
Guest
"Knew it would win" ? more like races she'd have to fall over to lose. Give me a break, the last straw for me was when they didn't want to run her in the Newmarket because she'd get, I can't remember 58 or 60kg. For Pete's sake a champion would swallow that, and over 1200m that's all, crikey that week I saw a mare in England the same age lump 74KG, jump 17 fences over 4000 meters and win by fifteen lengths ! Geez HK is that all, how about Singapore ( Kris Flyer) Japan ( Sprinters Stakes) U.S.A ( Breeders Cup) Dubai ( Golden Shaheen) nah, set weights and penalty G3 at Morphetville is more our go, Puurrrleeze ! This cotton wool champ should not even be mentioned in the same sentence as Manikato, Vain and Luskin Star and if one more person ever tells me what superstars Hay List, Winter King, Crystal Lilly and Zedi Knight were, which is what she was running against most of the time, I'll puke.
kv joef
Roar Guru
Really good assessment TBS. Excellent contribution. A foundation of what we do is the statement --- 'you can only know a good horse by knowing what other good horses have done.'.
fiddlesticks
Guest
if you wanted to get picky there are 2 things that you could knock BC on. it always got a 2kg pull in the weights at WFA off the male horses ( i know that's the rules) and that it was placed to perfection. its runs were well spaced most of the time and they aimed her at races they knew it would win, they never really took big risks. i would of loved her to go to the real home of sprinting HK, not Ascot