Black Caviar, Champion Racehorse, Dies

Australia|Black Caviar, Champion Racehorse and Australian Icon, Dies

She transcended racing to become a household name in Australia and revived, for a time, a sport in decline. At the height of her career, she graced the cover of Vogue, met Queen Elizabeth II and had her own line of shampoo and conditioner.

Black Caviar, the Australian racehorse whose unbeaten streak of 25 victories from 2009 to 2013 made her a cultural icon, died on Saturday, one day before her 18th birthday.

Her death was confirmed by the Victoria Racing Club in a statement. Australian news media reported that her trainer, Peter Moody, said Black Caviar was euthanized after giving birth to a foal because she was suffering from laminitis, a painful disease that affects the hooves of horses. Mr. Moody could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Between 2009 and 2013, Black Caviar won 25 races from 25 starts, earning more than $5.3 million (about 8 million Australian dollars) in prize money. From 2010 to 2013, she was ranked the world’s best sprinter racehorse by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. Some media outlets described her as “the world’s most popular racehorse.”

“Very rarely do we get a hose that transcends the sport,” Matt Hill, an Australian race caller, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday, “but everybody, even if they didn’t follow horseracing, knew who Black Caviar was.”

At times, Black Caviar’s fame transcended her equine nature. In 2012, she was named “sportswoman of the year” by one newspaper, controversially beating out a human Olympic hurdling champion, Sally Pearson. That same year, Black Caviar became the first animal to be featured on the cover of Vogue Australia.