Black Caviar tonight...

[sighthound]

Hay List is avoiding her.

[justwin]

Thats good for this week. maybe hay list will take a shot next week. lets see the circumstances but the price and the timing with 3 races in 3 weeks couldn\'t be better. I hope she gets tested a little this week.

[sighthound]

She\'s running in these races, rather than having workouts.

I wouldn\'t bet against her until she left the country.  It would be like betting against Secretariat in the Belmont.  Yes, she\'s that extraordinary.  She\'s only been back two races this prep, and she\'s bigger, stronger, and faster now that she\'s fully mature.

[Lost Cause]

sighthound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She\'s running in these races, rather than having
> workouts.
>
> I wouldn\'t bet against her until she left the
> country.  It would be like betting against
> Secretariat in the Belmont.  Yes, she\'s that
> extraordinary.  She\'s only been back two races
> this prep, and she\'s bigger, stronger, and faster
> now that she\'s fully mature.

Regardless of if they are using it as a workout it\'s still a race so it\'s going to take more starch out of her than a workout would.  I will be betting on hay list for the next race if Black Caviar tries to pull off the trifecta.  I\'ll probably lose but at the odds i\'m willing to give it a shot.  Can\'t say I agree with the connections on the race spacing especially if they want to run overseas later.

[Footlick]

Southern Speed is not a sprinter, though.  She is a Caufield Cup winner.

[sighthound]

Black Caviar more exposed than ever
Brendan Cormick
The Australian
February 15, 2012 12:00AM

WORLDLY Flemington-based trainer John Sadler would not be disappointed for the connections of Sister Madly if Black Caviar stayed home on Saturday.

Though for lovers of racing and, in particular the unbeaten mare, this will quite likely be the most exciting race they ever see.

\"They said they got 20,000 last week at Caulfield for the Orr Stakes, but they must have got closer to 30,000,\" Sadler said yesterday. \"That was a non-event last week compared to this Saturday. She\'s the best I\'ve ever seen, but they are giving people a chance to see something special. If this doesn\'t get the turnstiles clicking, nothing will.\"

Sadler, who has trained internationally and was a key figure behind the scenes in Efficient\'s 2007 Melbourne Cup triumph, is an unabashed Black Caviar fan but he says she has never been more exposed than she will be in the $752,500 weight-for-age dash.

\"I just think coming back from the 1400m to the 1000m, she is a little vulnerable,\" Sadler said.

\"There are some horses there that can run a very quick 1000m. I reckon they (the Black Caviar team) are showing a lot of guts doing this. It\'s a great thing for racing that they are doing it.

\"If ever a horse will prove you wrong, she\'ll continue to do it because she is outstanding and I\'m no different to anyone else with my thoughts.\"

The Davenport family and trainer John McNair are said to be leaving it until the morning before deciding whether Hay List, the perennial bridesmaid to Black Caviar with four seconds in five races with her, will run.

Sadler expects the West Australian sprinter to line up and take the race to the champion.

\"Isn\'t this the time to take her on?\" Sadler said.

\"He\'s going to be weighted out of the Oakleigh Plate and he\'ll get his share in the Newmarket.\"

As for the Sadler-trained Sister Madly, she will be there.

The race is pivotal to her next target as she chases victory at the highest level to crown her career before ultimately taking up duties in the breeding barn in spring.

\"We are all about winning a Group I with our mare this time in and that is a lot easier said than done,\" Sadler said.

\"The Lightning, for her, will be a good lead-up to the Newmarket with three weeks between runs.\"

Damien Oliver will ride Sister Madly and, after jockeys were widely criticised for their lack of initiative last Saturday, the champion jockey is getting no satisfaction from chasing Black Caviar home.

\"I\'d be happy to knock her off,\" Oliver said cheekily. \"I\'m not one that\'s happy to see her keep winning. I\'m sick of seeing the back of her.

\"If she\'s in the way, I\'ll be happy to get past her,\" he said with a grin.

John O\'Shea, the trainer of Foxwedge, expects a true test for Black Caviar\'s 19th start after the promising colt galloped 800m and sprinted up over his last 200m at Flemington yesterday.

\"There will be a fair bit of speed early and there will be horses that\'ll be running along and there will be those, for example Foxwedge, with a little bit of weight relief, a tough, seasoned three-year-old with Nash, (Rawiller) an aggressive jockey. Consequently, they will be there to do their best,\" O\'Shea said.

Final acceptances will be taken at 10am this morning and at this stage, Black Caviar will be paid up with a view to running.

Black Caviar is set to have a travelling companian for her trip to England. Group I-winning stablemate King\'s Rose will give trainer Peter Moody a second runner at Royal Ascot in June.

The Hong Kong-owned King\'s Rose will be set for the Group I Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot on June 19, the beginning an extended stay in England and Ireland.

King\'s Rose, New Zealand\'s three-year-old filly of the year, will end her racing career in England before she is served by champion sire Galileo.
----------------------
Current international Timeform ratings
http://www.timeform.com/display_articles.asp?page=Timeform_Top_10s.asp

[Flighted Iron]

sighthound,

  She is amazing. Best for her.

Flighted Iron

[sighthound]

Yes, I\'m a fan:  this is the most exciting horse I\'ve seen since Secretariat and Dr. Fager.

Tomorrow night:   The Lightning Stakes, Flemington Race Course, Race 6A, 12:10am eastern time (Friday night for Saturday morning in USA)

Entries:  http://www.australianracing.com/filebin/downloads/FLEselAB0217.pdf

Race 6A Flemington 12:10am EST

Wagering: W, P, S, Ex, Qu, Tri, Super
5 f COOLMORE LIGHTNING STAKES G1 WFA US$804K

prg LRuns Horse Name BP Jockey Morn Line
1 234387x Phelan Ready 2 B Rawiller 30/1
2 x21212x Hay List 7 G Schofield 8/1
3 441462x Buffering 3 M Rodd 30/1
4 501613x Temple Of Boom 1 D Nikolic 15/1
5 536151x Secret Flyer 8 D Dunn 20/1
6 222x84x Metallurgical 4 Craig Williams 30/1
7 1x11111 Black Caviar 5 L Nolen 2/5
8 31x513x Lone Rock 6 G Boss 50/1
9 x12412x Foxwedge 9 N Rawiller 15/1

Selections: 7 - 2 - 9

------------------
Black Caviar to speed up in Lightning
Robert Windmill
06:10 AEST Fri Feb 17 2012

Jockey Luke Nolen is as confident as ever as unbeaten champion Black Caviar attempts to etch her name into the record books in the Lightning Stakes at Flemington.

Nolen admitted the challenge of coming back from 1400 metres to 1000 metres in a week was unorthodox but he expected Black Caviar to adapt on Saturday and win her second Lightning and 19th race in a row.

\"It is not holding any fears for us,\" Nolen said.

Nolen said he was prepared for a harder and faster contest than last start in the CF Orr Stakes when Black Caviar strolled home, about four seconds outside the 1400-metre course record.

\"I think the fact it (the Lightning) is run up the straight is only going to play to her strengths,\" he said.

\"She is effective around a corner but because she does take that big, long stride she\'s quite special to watch up the straight. She goes like a bomb.

\"We are all expecting the Lightning to be run a lot quicker than her last few races but she can run sub-11 second sectionals for the best part of a race.

\"She gets horses out of their comfort zone through the middle stages and because she can sustain it for an extended period of time she has them all off the bit before we get to the clock tower.\"

Nolen said the Orr Stakes didn\'t take a lot of out of Black Caviar, likening it to a track gallop where she only had to quicken over the last 600 metres.

\"She didn\'t have a tough run by any stretch,\" Nolen said.

Nolen welcomed another match against Hay List who has raced her four times for three seconds, including in last year\'s Lightning when 3-1/4 lengths behind Black Caviar.

\"He\'s the only one who has really made her stretch in the TJ Smith in Sydney and the BTC Cup in Brisbane and he looked pretty good winning a couple of trials earlier this year,\" Nolen said.

\"I have got a healthy respect for the horse but there is only one horse I will be worrying about and that is Black Caviar.\"

Nolen acknowledged the optimism of Hay List\'s owners the Davenport family, trainer John McNair and jockey Glyn Schofield but it doesn\'t faze him.

\"They are bullish but you can\'t go into a race with a defeatist attitude I suppose,\" Nolen said.

He said Hay List appeared as if he was \"close enough to the mark but I am sure there is improvement in him whereas Black Caviar is pretty fit\".

Nolen said trainer Peter Moody had always believed Black Caviar\'s best would be seen in her five-year-old season and that she was ready to show it.

\"She is probably fully developed now and being such a hulking mare probably needed that last couple of years to almost furnish completely,\" he said.

\"She is so big and strong she could do so much damage to herself when she let rip but a lot of those things are behind her now.\"

A Lightning success would see Black Caviar join Desert Gold and Gloaming with the most consecutive wins in Australasia.

It would also give her the first leg of the Global Sprint Challenge which carries a $1 million bonus to any horse who can win three of the 10-race series in different countries.