To many she is the giant of all racing giants but it is also true that Peter Moody’s undefeated mare Black Caviar likewise has a record of beating winners of Australia’s premier races, something rival trainer John O’Shea is acutely aware of as he prepares to take her on with Sea Siren in the TJ Smith Stakes 2013 this Saturday.
Sea Siren is one of a handful of Group 1 winners taking on Black Caviar in Saturday's TJ Smith Stakes 2013. Photo: Daniel Costello.
“She’s now beaten 35 individual Group 1 winners, and they have to beat her,” Black Caviar’s trainer Moody said leading into the $1 million Group 1 Darley TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick this week.
“We’re not talking s.. t saying that.
“She’s beaten Golden Slipper winners, Cox Plate winners, Caulfield Cup winners, she’s beaten them all.
“I’m respectful of that, and if they’re (other trainers are) not respectful of her, that’s their issue.”
O’Shea’s TJ Smith Stakes contender is one of six individual Group 1 winners in the 11-horse field on Saturday, his now four-year-old Fastnet Rock mare Sea Siren having taken out the BTC Cup – Doomben 10,000 double in Brisbane last winter before her Maniakto Stakes success in Melbourne during the spring.
Sea Siren, who will be taking on the mighty Black Caviar for the first time in the TJ Smith Stakes, is out to bounce back after a failed first-up effort at Rosehill.
Racing for the first time since her Hong Kong trip back in December she could only manage to finish eight and a half lengths away eight to Bel Sprinter, another rival on Saturday, in the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) on March 30.
Black Caviar meanwhile comes off back-to-back Group 1 Victorian wins having easily accounted for some below-par fields in the Lightning Stakes and William Reid Stakes – form that is hard to really gauge according to O’Shea.
“Only Peter (Moody) would know the answer to that,” he said.
Still he is not denying Black Caviar’s class and has conceded Sea Siren and the rest of the field are running for second on Saturday with his mare more likely to peak during the Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival when she defends her title in both the $400,000 Group 1 BTC Cup (1200m) in May and the $650,000 Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m).
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