Black Caviar at Royal Ascot Saturday AM

[Riot]

But even in a herd, you would pick Black Caviar out in a cold minute. As an individual she is imposing: tall, massively strong in her hindquarters, weighing in at 585kg [1287 lbs ] which is more than the steeplechaser Denman, himself nicknamed The Tank because of his notable size and strength. A

s an athlete the innate power of her movement is extraordinarily compelling, at whatever speed. At a walk and a trot she has the balanced self-carriage of a trained dressage horse; at the gallop she has been measured at nine strides to the furlong. The second-best sprinter in Australia, Hay List, an even bigger specimen, takes 11.

The dark bay six-year-old's attributes as a runner, which include being the first horse in Australia to clock sub-10 seconds for 200 metres and 11 victories at the highest level, have captured the public imagination outside racing in a way that the sport's promoters in this country can only fantasise about.

Black Caviar was clocked at 9.98 seconds for 200 meters mid-race. 200 meters is not exactly a furlong, but that would still put furlong equivalent at less than 10.1 seconds, no? Have to get the calculator out. Do you know any horses that have run under 10.5 mid-race for a furlong? Dr. Fager? Ghostzapper?