It’s not over until the turf queen sings. That’s the attitude adopted by Peter Moody who welcomed back the world’s best mare Black Caviar to his Caulfield stables this week, the ace Victorian trainer giving the undefeated star four weeks to let him know whether or not she will race on for another season.

The Bel Esprit six-year-old is still recovering from a testing international campaign that took its toll on the $6.8 million earner, Black Caviar taking her stunning record to 22 wins from as many starts despite being knocked about in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1207m) at Royal Ascot in Britain back in June.

Moody said at this stage the signs were promising that Black Caviar, who has captured the hearts of punters around Australia and beyond, hadn’t run her last race but that time was running out for her to prove her fitness.

“She’s had a nice break and looks well but the only call I will be making is after about a month in pre-training, I’ll assess her and decide whether she goes to stud or we keep her going this season,” Moody said on Monday night.

Already ruled out of the spring majors, Moody said if the ‘Black Flash’ came back into work and progressed extremely well he would look at a November return for her with the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival features in his sights.

“If we decide to keep racing her, I’ll tip her out again for a month then bring her back in on November 1 and go full bore for the autumn,” he said.

If not Black Caviar would be retired to serve as one of Australia’s most valuable broodmares in history, her flawless race record including an incredible 12 Group 1 victories.