Australia: Moment of Change carries top weight in Goodwood Stakes

A month after the retirement of unbeaten superstar Black Caviar, the Australian sprint division carries on with two Group 1 races Saturday.

Black Caviar, who won 25 sprints, won the Group 1 Goodwood Stakes in 2012. In Saturday’s $510,000 Goodwood at Morphettville Racecourse, her trainer, Peter Moody, starts Moment Of Change, a 5-year-old gelding who carries the top weight of 129 pounds in the 18-runner field.

Moment Of Change was second to Black Caviar in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes at Flemington Racecourse on Feb. 16 and has since finished second in the Newmarket Stakes on March 9 and last of 10 in the Canterbury Stakes on March 23.

Platelet and Yosei, mares who were first and third in the Group 1 Sangster Stakes for fillies and mares April 27, are two other contenders in the Goodwood, which is run over about six furlongs.

Saturday’s $408,000 BTC Cup at Eagle Farm Racecourse was considered a possible race for Black Caviar before her retirement. Instead, the race has drawn a field of 11 led by Buffering, who was scratched from the 2012 BTC Cup because of injury.

A 6-year-old gelding by Mossman, Buffering won the Group 2 Victory Stakes at Doomben Racecourse on April 27 and can win his first Group 1 in the BTC Cup, which is run over about six furlongs. Trained by Robert Heathcote, Buffering has won 12 of 31 starts.

Buffering’s principal rivals are Rain Affair, who was fourth behind Black Caviar in her final start in the T.J. Smith Stakes on April 11, and Sea Siren, a 5-year-old mare who was fifth in the Smith Stakes.