Horsepower

Now the dust has settled on Royal Ascot for another year, it was an interesting exercise to see Frankel and Black Caviar run over this bit of Berkshire, in their respective races.

Of course, we will never 'prove' who is the best horse in the World, just as we will never prove who the greatest racehorse of all time was (it wasn't Arkle by the way), but you'd have the imagination of a Goldfish not to play around with comparisons, having seen  these two equine superstars 'back-to-back'.

Frankel has to do more than keep beating up Excelebration over a mile now - and surely this will be the plan for the rest of his season, maybe starting at York in the Juddmonte. Yes Excelebration is a Group One winner, but who knows what his rating is now, having seen Frankel's backside so many times now. Frankel vs Camelot over 10 furlongs would be a show-stopper (unlikely given the latter's putative tilt at the St Leger) but surely now his legacy will rest on him 'doing a Black Caviar' and testing himself abroad at the Breeders Cup?

But jeez, was there ever a more visually impressive winning machine?

Certainly not Black Caviar on her Ascot performance.

She won in a slower time than the Wokingham Handicap winner half an hour later, carrying 7lb less. Even allowing for the (self-confessed) ineptness of her jockey, she neither lived up to her pre-race hype or her starting price - anyone taking the 1/6 about her would have been bricking themselves in the last half-furlong. Of course, news of her 'injury' was rushed out very quickly after her win (forgive those inverted commas, but  cynicism is generally justified when it comes to listening to Connections talking about their pride and joy, particularly such a valuable broodmare as Black Caviar).

Fair play, she came out of her backyard, traveled round the world, out of season, did the whole quarantine thing and still won a Group One race. However the public and racing press were so pathetically grateful for this the possibility she has been beating nothing but trees (with Dutch Elm disease) back home has scarcely been mooted.

Of course, the two will never meet head to head on a racecourse. There was a brief opportunity of them meeting at Goodwood over a Frankel-favouring Mile but even with the enhanced prize money that was being put up, Black Caviar ducked it - why not? Go back down under and keep on beating nothing for better prize money than you can pick up in the Northern Hemisphere, without anyone challenging your regionalist hype about being the best racehorse in the world, despite the evidence of Ascot and official figures.

It's a no-brainer.