Luke Nolen is keen to proceed slowly with Invincible Caviar, with the jockey predicting the mare could next year be challenging for black type.
The daughter of the unbeaten superstar Black Caviar bounced back to the winner’s stall at Pakenham on Saturday to make it three wins from five starts after a soft win in BM70 company after a shock first-up failure at The Valley.
Invincible Caviar ran away in the home straight over 1200 metres to win by a length and three quarters as a $6 chance in a performance that had her connections thinking of potential higher honours.
Nolen said the mare’s day would come but said there was a little way to go with her just yet.
‘’I’d be happy just to poke along in these sorts of races and, eventually, I think she can make it to one of those good races,’’ Nolen said.
‘’We probably added a string to her bow. She began evenly but she snuggled up nicely underneath me and when I asked her to go, she really let rip like a horse with nice quality.
‘’I still think she’s probably a work in progress, but what I was most pleased with today was the way she settled and how she rounded it off.
‘’She’s sort of been a bull at a gate a little bit in her races so that’s encouraging going forward.
‘’I would say she’s still on a learning curve (mentally), but she had a good experience here today and that will hold her in good stead going forward.’’
WATCH: Invincible Caviar win at Pakenham on Saturday
Invincible Caviar, who had a year off racing after some knee and muscle problems as a young horse, is the fifth of six foals from Black Caviar and as well as being physically built like her mother, the huge mare is also showing some of her talent.
Katherine Coleman, assistant trainer with Peter Moody, said the mare’s spacious home track at Pakenham suited Invincible Caviar.
‘’I think that might be the key to her as she’s such a big filly as you can see in the mounting yard, but I think these wider, bigger tracks are going to suit her,’’ Coleman said.
“It was definitely impressive. It was really nice to see her settle there and then when she got that nice bit of clear air and just to finish it off strongly.
‘’It’s the right time of year for her now so hopefully we can sort something for her. We’ll just take it step by step and race by race and build her profile.’’