The 2015 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes will take place at Flemington on February 21 next year, despite fears that the event would have to be rescheduled due to a double booking of the venue.
Snitzerland scored her maiden win at Group 1 level in the 2014 edition of the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Promotional material for the Melbourne edition of the Soundwave Musical Festival indicated that the event was set to be held at Flemington on February 21 and 22 and the Victorian Racing Club indicated at the time that they were looking into ways that both events could be accommodated due to the sizeable financial windfall that would come the clubs way as a result of hosting the Soundwave festival.
There was speculation that the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m) meeting could be shifted to another venue, as it was in 2007 when champion sprinter Miss Andretti won the race that was staged at Moonee Valley, but Acting Victorian Racing Club CEO Julian Sullivan confirmed that the Group 1 event would be held at Flemington on its original date and the organisers of Soundwave were currently looking for an alternative venue.
“Given the valuable revenue this booking would have generated for reinvestment into the racing industry, the Club explored options to accommodate Soundwave, including rescheduling the raceday,” Sullivan told TVN.
“A satisfactory solution to hold both Soundwave and Black Caviar Lightning Day at Flemington could not be found.
“The raceday will proceed at Flemington as originally scheduled and we understand Soundwave’s promoter has been looking at alternative venues for that event.”
The Black Caviar Lightning Stakes is the feature race at Flemington on February 21 and the Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes (1200m) for three-year-old colts and geldings, the Group 2 The Vanity (1400m) for three-year-old fillies and the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m) for two-year-olds will also be held on the race card which will clash with the Hobartville Stakes meeting at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney.
The Group 1 sprint was inaugurated in 1955 and has been won by a number of the leading sprinters in Australian racing history including Todman (1960), Sky High (1961 and 1962), Wenona Girl (1963 and 1964), Storm Queen (1967), Maybe Mahal (1977 and 1978), Placid Ark (1987), Schillaci (1992 and 1993), Mahogany (1995 and 1997), Testa Rossa (2000), Choisir (2003), Fastnet Rock (2005), Takeover Target (2006), Miss Andretti (2007), Apache Cat (2008), Scenic Blast (2009) and Black Caviar (2011, 2012 and 2013).
