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Horse Talk: Top horse-racing tips and the latest news

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Trainer Peter Moody has revealed that he has no fixed training schedule for Black Caviar ahead of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday week.

Black Caviar arrived at Heathrow from Australia last Thursday, before being transported to Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Abington Place stables at Newmarket where she will be based for the duration of her stay.

And Moody, who is expected to arrive in the UK from Melbourne this afternoon to oversee the final stages of the preparation, confirmed that Black Caviar, the winner of all of her 21 starts, is doing well.

“All good. Everyone is happy,” Moody said. “She is well and settled into the new environment. She had a walk the first day. The next day she had a walk and little bit of a trot. We don’t usually do that but she is doing so well it was in her best interest to do a little more.

“She lost about nine kilograms on the trip over. Magnus and Hinchinbrook (Moody trained-Royal Ascot contenders in 2008) lost up to 20 kilograms. She has a great constitution, and the pressure suit certainly didn’t hurt her.

“Her food and water intake on the way over was very good, and she hasn’t stopped eating or drinking. She is well and happy. We’re not setting any (training) schedule; we’ll play it day by day.”

The ground at Ascot was described as soft on Thursday morning by clerk of the course Chris Stickels. He expects the going on the first day on the Royal meeting next Tuesday to be on slow side of good and to dry out further in the week.

However connections of Black Caviar, the second highest ranked horse in the world and highest ranked sprinter, are confident that she will win on any ground.

“We are not here to be beaten,” Moody’s racing manager, Jeff O’Connor, said today at a press conference in Newmarket. “We won’t be using the ground as an excuse if she is beaten.”

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