Australian wonderhorse
June 23, 2012
Australian racehorse Black Caviar won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot taking her record to 22 wins out of 22 starts and more than seven million euros ($6 million) in prize money.
The horse is a star in Australia and has her own website and Twitter account with nearly 15,000 followers. Five thousand Australians turned up to watch her at the course to the west of London on Saturday afternoon. Thousands more stayed up after midnight local time to watch the race on television in Australia.
Black Caviar's journey by plane from her home in Australia was front page news - including her specially designed equine compression suit to help her fend off the effects of the 11,000-mile (17,700 kilometer) flight to England.
The race itself was dramatic. She started as the 1/6 favorite and cleared the field before her jockey, Luke Nolen, appeared to relax too soon and was nearly caught on the line by French raider Moonlight Cloud who placed second.
"You've only got to win by a quarter of an inch. That's what we were prepared to come here and win by, and we got the job done," the horse's trainer Peter Moody said.
Earlier in the week, Energizer, ridden by Adrie de Vries and trained by Jens Hirschberger, became the first German-trained winner at Royal Ascot with his comfortable victory in Thursday's Tercentenary Stakes.
jm/ncy (AFP, Reuters, dpa)