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We're here to, win: O'Connor

Date: June 16 2012


Tom Peacock

Black Caviar's team admits it has everything to lose and little to gain when the great Australian mare stakes her reputation in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot next weekend.

Yet to sail even close to defeat in her 21 starts and already revered in her homeland, Peter Moody's sprinter is to have her first overseas start in the six-furlong group 1.

Control has been the operative word in her much-publicised trip, as she flew in a specially designed compression suit and is monitored constantly.

''There's nothing for her to add to on top of her record - we know she's a champion and she's unbeaten,'' said Jeff O'Connor, Moody's racing manager. ''If she was 17 from 21 maybe we'd be able to enjoy it more with the pressure off, but she's an unbeaten horse.''

O'Connor said Black Caviar's expedition to England had been precisely planned to give her the best chance of winning.

''The owners, it was their wish to be here and we thought the best way to get her here and win for them was to maybe dodge [Dubai], keep her at home and not have so many things out of our control - the travel, the tracks we wanted to use, various things came into it,'' he said.

''Things can only go wrong, that's the way we think about it. If we can take everything that's in our control and cover that then we've done our best.

''If she's beaten, she's beaten, but we're not here to be beaten.''

If any further evidence need be required that Black Caviar is a brand, it could be seen in Newmarket yesterday.

Since she touched down, the mare has been appearing on the Heath for her morning constitutional at sunrise in order to avoid unnecessary scrutiny and attention.

While media access is restricted due to a tie-up with Australian television, she went for a light canter on the all-weather gallop before 5am and was later greeted by a dozen camera crews and a similar number of photographers and journalists on her return to the Abington Place Stables. PA/AAP

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