Retirement does not beckon after all for super mare Black Caviar, with the five-year-old mare being aimed at a Melbourne spring campaign later this year.

Black Caviar

Black Caviar - photo by Sarah Ebbett

The champion mare shocked Australia when she won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes by just the narrowest of margins in England on Saturday.

Expecting a dominant victory, the performance immediately created doubt over her fitness and wellbeing.

Following her Diamond Jubilee performance, Black Caviar was found to have sustained two muscle tears, prompting questions about an abrupt retreat from racing.

However, scans have since pinpointed the tears to be in her quadriceps, which leads to a promising prognosis for her future race career.

“I have had my vets and chiropractors take some precautionary X-rays of Black Caviar,” trainer Peter Moody said.

“They have come back fine, but she has some soft tissue damage.

“The quadricep muscle is where the main problem is and she is quite sore behind.

“It is the tightest I have seen her after a race.”

This is the second time Black Caviar has endured injuries of this nature, with the Bel Espit mare tearing the same muscle when winning the Group 2 Danehill Stakes in 2009.

“They are injuries she has sustained before, so it is not unusual,” Moody said.

“She has torn her quad muscle before and it will not be the finish of her.

“She is very flat and will now have a couple of weeks rest.”

Black Caviar will remain in quarantine for the next month before arriving in Australia in late July.

She will continue her long and well-deserved break once back in Australia before beginning work to prepare her for another crack at the Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic.

“She will be prepared for another crack at the Patinack Farm Classic at Flemington, which she has won for the past two years,” her trainer said.

Black Caviar proved her fighting spirit to win at Royal Ascot last weekend despite her injuries and has now won all 22 of her career starts.

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