Black Caviar does it again

Champion mare Black Caviar extended her extraordinary winning streak to 19 races with victory in the Lightning Stakes at Flemington.

The Peter Moody-trained horse ran a blistering time of 55.53 seconds over the 1000m distance at the Melbourne track to finish ahead of Hay List, with Buffering third.

The victory - her second in the Lightning Stakes - was Black Caviar's ninth at Group One level and equals the Australasian record for consecutive wins set by Gloaming (1919-21) and Desert Gold (1915-17).

Black Caviar was challenged in the final 400m by Hay List before jockey Luke Nolen pushed the favourite to the line, winning by one-and-a-half lengths.

"Hay List had me worried there for a couple of strides ... I've just got to take my hat off to that mare. She's bloody wonderful," Nolen said.

"She touched me today. She's probably been a bit of a protected species because of the way she goes about winning her races, but it was great to see that when the chips were down how much courage she had."

"Champions just continue to do it, don't they?"

Added Moody: "We had the best horse in the race and we were going to dominate them and Luke rode her accordingly."

"It certainly wasn't her most dominant win but it's probably the closest she's been to a course record and she was pushed by a great horse."

"She's just a champion."

Moody said that Black Caviar is unlikely to run in next Saturday's 1400m Futurity Stakes at Caulfield.

She is expected to travel to Dubai to contest the Golden Shaheen on March 31, with the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot on June 23 already locked into her schedule.