A barrier trial clash between Australia’s two glamour horses, Black Caviar and Sepoy, is in doubt.
The superstars have been entered in the same 800-metre open trial at Cranbourne on Monday but Black Caviar’s trainer Peter Moody is already baulking at the prospect of taking on the champion three-year-old.
Black Caviar and Sepoy, who collectively have won 20 of their 21 starts, are scheduled to compete in the first of 20 heats but Moody said he wasn’t keen on the idea of a hard trial for his unbeaten champion.
“I threw in a speculative nom and will make a decision later in week,” Moody said.
“I am not shying away from Sepoy but she is such a competitive mare and I was just looking to have soft gallop somewhere.
“If Sepoy presents himself it is probably not going to be the case and the last thing I want to do is overtax her in a trial.
“If I think she is too big and burly later in the week she might have the trip down there otherwise she will do it at home like she usually does.”
Moody said Black Caviar, who is favourite to claim the Australian Racehorse of the Year Award on Sunday night, was thriving ahead of her scheduled first-up spring assignment in the Group Two Schweppes Schillaci Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield on October 8.
“She is full of herself and I wish the race was this weekend to get it out of the way,” Moody said.
Success in the Schillaci would improve Black Caviar’s unbeaten sequence to 14.
Sepoy, last season’s Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond winner, is set to make his first Group One appearance as a three-year-old against the older horses in the Manikato Stakes (1200m) on September 30 at Moonee Valley.
AAP TURF
