It hasn’t drawn the biggest field in its history but what the 2021 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes lacks in size, it certainly makes up for in the depth of quality.
Most of Australia’s and subsequently, the world’s best sprinters will take their places in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes field including Bivouac, Nature Strip, Pippie, September Run and Swats That, and we could very well be treated to the standout contest of the Autumn Carnival at HQ on Saturday.
Black Caviar Lightning Stakes – Winner
No. 2 Bivouac – Bet Now: $2.70
I could be an even bigger fan of Bivouac than James Cummings, and I am expecting an impressive and overall winning performance in the Lightning Stakes.
Simply put, the Exceed And Excel colt doesn’t know how to run a bad race, and he is now a three-time Group 1 winner after adding the VRC Sprint Classic to his resuming during the recent Spring Carnival.
He does tend to improve with a run or two under his belt, but he has only missed placing once in five previous fresh attempts, and he is just the best horse in the field for mine.
Bossy rides, and the horse will take a power of beating.
Black Caviar Lightning Stakes – 2nd
No. 5 Pippie – Bet Now: $9.50
Two-time Group 1 winner Pippie absolutely flies fresh and she can fight out the finish of the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes.
Pippie obviously been a stable star for Chris Meagher since making her debut, but it is more than fair to say that she went to another level in 2020, winning the Oakleigh Plate fresh in autumn, and resuming in the spring for an impressive win in the Moir Stakes.
As that all suggests, she keeps her best for this point of her preparation, and she wouldn’t look out of place in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes winner’s stall.
Black Caviar Lightning Stakes – 3rd
No. 7 September Run – Bet Now: $5.50
The Coolmore Stud Stakes winner September Run will make her eagerly awaited return in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes and as a three-year-old filly, gets into the race extremely well.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel raced well during her two-year-old season and record a win in Listed at Doomben most notably, but she enjoyed a meteoric rise during the spring, capped with her dominant Group 1 victory.
She has won fresh previously, but she has tended to enjoy sharp improvement with one under her belt, and there is no doubt that this is the toughest race that she has contested so far.
Black Caviar Lightning Stakes – 4th
No. 1 Nature Strip – Bet Now: $4.00
There is absolutely no arguing with his record and he was once rated as high four in the world’s overall ratings, but I don’t think that Nature Strip is as lethal as he once was, and I’d need to see him win again before I back him.
That was certainly the case for the Nicconi gelding during his spring campaign, during which he failed to win a race, but left firm in the market on every occasion.
I like the booking of Jamie Kah, but he’ll need to be at his absolute best, and I can’t take the price for him to win.