News
Pressure - why Black Caviar ran so fast
By Michael Sharkie
Pressure is an important variable in horse racing. It can take horses out of their comfort zone, it can bring others into theirs, it can cause even the most gifted jockeys to make mistakes that they wouldn't usually make, and it can change races.
In Saturday's Lightning Stakes we saw a fantastic example of race pressure and the impact of speed on the result, and how the greatest sprinter we have ever seen in this country took her peak performance to another level.
In the lead up to the Lightning Stakes we heard that rival trainers were not going to let the champ have an easy run, the speed would be on in earnest in an attempt to run her ragged and tire her out.
The end time of 55.44 seconds (I am using the digital time provided by Vince Accardi's Daily Sectionals service, it is incredibly accurate) certainly suggests that the pace was brisk and that trainers stayed true to their word, but we get a much better idea of just how quickly they went when we compare the splits to last year's race.
2011 (leaders sectional times - BC led from 800m)
800m - 46.22 (Leapfrog)
600m - 32.95 (BC)
400m - 22.61 (BC)
200m - 12.02 (BC)
Race time - 57.02
2012 (leaders sectional time)
800m - 42.25 (Hay List)
600m - 32.06 (Hay List)
400m - 21.68 (BC)
200m - 11.36 (BC)
Race time - 55.44
The average difference in time at each split when converted to distance is between 6 and 10 lengths and the overall difference in race time when converted to distance is a whopping 9 lengths!
So why did Black Caviar go so much faster this year?
The answer is pressure.
Last year, Black Caviar's rivals set out at a far more moderate tempo and attempted to simply stick with the great mare and then quicken with her when she was asked to win the race. We've seen these sorts of tactics fail dismally in the past so it was no wonder that they failed in the 2011 Lightning Stakes - there is simply no horse in Australia capable of matching Black Caviar's turn of foot.
This year however, jockeys and trainers elected to effectively run their own race rather than worry about the champion mare. Glyn Schofield made the great mare match motors with him throughout and he set a cracking pace from the outset. Michael Rodd on the super tough Queenslander Buffering had no choice but to gun his mount early to keep up with the dynamic duo, but by the 450m he was reaching for a gear that wasn't there as his ride came under pressure.
Behind the trio, the rest of the field were struggling to make any sort of ground, they simply could not run fast enough to pull ground on Hay List or Black Caviar.
Hay List's strength, like BC to a degree, is his high cruising speed, and Schofield rode the race to suit his mount perfectly; he knew that he would be unable to out-sprint the mare so he tried to steal a break on her instead.
Schofield's problem was that everywhere he went, Black Caviar and Luke Nolen went with him.
The pressure that these two horses imposed on the rest of their rivals on Saturday's race was simply amazing, this was one of the fastest, most high-pressure races that I have ever seen in my life and HL and BC simply ran their opposition into the ground.
What makes Black Caviar an incredible racehorse though, and what elevates her into a group of horses that make up the best to have ever raced in this country, was her ability to break Hay List at the 200m and actually quicken off that sizzling tempo.
Her 9.98 200m split between the 600m and the 400m put Hay List to the sword, her 10.40 400m - 200m split drove it into him, and her 11.40 final 200m (the first 100m of which was when she drew clear) was the nail in the coffin.
Saturday's race was not only an incredible battle and racing spectacle, it was a pure display of speed and sheer class and perhaps the most defining example of what makes Black Caviar so special.
