Black Caviar extends winning run to 17

An excited crowd crammed into Moonee Valley last night to witness another chapter of the Black Caviar story and got just what they expected.Chasing her 17th successive victory in the Group Two Australia Stakes, the great mare made it six from six at the Valley and 13 from 13 over the 1200m trip.And she did it with seeming ease and a minimum of fuss.Sent out at the prohibitive odds of $1.05, Black Caviar gave Luke Nolen an armchair ride leading from barrier one on jumping away but letting Zedi Knight ($31) slide to the front soon after.Nolen bided his time in second place and the world’s best sprinter cruised up to Zedi Knight on the home turn and let rip in the straight to score by 4 lengths.‘‘She’s terrific for our sport. Melbourne is probably the greatest sporting city in the world and to see people turn out and enjoy the evening like this is just tremendous,’’ Moody said.‘‘It’s just great for our industry. We need it. Racing often gets a kicking to death on the front page of the newspapers. This mare gets us on the front page for the right reasons.‘‘It’s great to be a part of it.’’Black Caviar’s time of 1:09.44 was just 0.15s outside the course record held by Miss Andretti and set in the 2006 Manikato Stakes.Miss Andretti went on to win the King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot.A seven-time Group 1 winner and earner of a tick over $4.5million in stakes, Black Caviar equalled Hong Kong superstar sprinter Silent Witness’s record of 17 straight wins and is now only two wins off the Australasian record of 19 held by Gloaming and Desert Gold.‘‘It’s great to see her back,’’ Moody said.Moody confirmed Black Caviar’s next start would be in the Group 1 C F Orr Stakes at Caulfield on February 11, her first attempt at 1400m.Plans are to take the five-year-old daughter of Bel Esprit to England for the Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot and the July Cup (1200m) at Newmarket, after the Orr, the Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield and maybe one other run here.‘‘There’s a race for her every Saturday on the eastern seaboard of Australia and most parts of the world for the next six months,’’ Moody said.‘‘But we are going to sit down next Friday with the owners and have a meeting and that will tell us a bit more and get everyone’s gut feeling.’’Nolen indicated the Black Caviar could have broken the track record if he really put her to the sword but there was no need to overtax her.‘‘Obviously combined with her awesome talent, her giant stride and her relaxed attitude are the reasons she is such a champion,’’ he said.‘‘I’m not going to say she’s better than she was but she’s physically mature now and she felt strong underneath me.MVRC chief executive Michael Browell said the club had expected about 8000 people but was so overwhelmed with long queues that it opened the gates and gave free entry to many latecomers with the final crowd estimated at 15,000.