Luke Nolan almost made the gravest mistake of his career this morning as he rode Black Caviar towards yet another victory, this time at Royal Ascot in England in front of the Queen and 80,000 Poms who had come out to watch her.
Despite drawing barrier 15 of 15 and a very damp track, the champion jumped out of the barrier and by halfway down the straight had taken the lead, and looked the winner. With just under a hundred metres to go, Nolan visibly allowed Black Caviar to pull up, believing her to be home. However, the other horses hadn't given up, and at the last minute you could see Nolan give her a sudden sharp pull to get her going again. In the end, the victory was narrow (see photo to attest to this), but a victory it was, and realistically it was easier than it appears.
Nolan was visibly chastened at the press conference afterwards, but claimed full responsibility. Peter Moody was visibly... well... pissed off would be the way to put it, but he didn't actually put that into words.
No doubt that will be the girl's only race in Britain. As Luke Nolan said, it is a shame that it will probably be remembered more for his error in judgement than for the magnificent acheievment of Black Caviar winning her 22nd consecutive race from as many starts.
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