Black Caviar has edge in attention over Frankel

Black Caviar is getting the better of Frankel when it comes who the media and fans are talking about at Royal Ascot.

Black Caviar gets cooled off after a workout. The Australian mare is a hot item this week, with merchandise for sale.

Rarely can an international racing meeting start off with the possibility of making such a deep impression on racegoers as the sight of Frankel galloping his rivals into submission in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday.

The world's highest-rated thoroughbred faces 10 others in the first race of 30 across the next five days and if it was not for Black Caviar, who contests Saturday's Diamond Jubilee Stakes, then Ascot's marketing executives may have had to take a hard look at their racing programme.

Ever since Black Caviar arrived in Britain from Australia 12 days ago, Frankel has struggled for column inches compared with the world's best sprinter. The "wonder from Down Under" arrived to a media frenzy in Newmarket and the British racing press seemingly have reported on nothing much ever since.

Almost as a response to the hullabaloo surrounding the mare, the connections of Frankel on Monday announced the colt's own line of merchandise, which goes on sale at outside Ascot railway station on Tuesday.

Much like the tawdry items sold on Black Caviar's website, supporters can buy Frankel baseball caps, T-shirts and jackets. You can even purchase a Frankel mug.

Curiously, unlike Black Caviar's merchandise, which is emblazoned with the pink and black of her owners' colours, Frankel's does not share the pink, white and green colours of owner Prince Khalid Abdullah. Juddmonte Farms, which bred Frankel on behalf of the Saudi Arabian Prince, insist that they created the modern-looking green logo.

"Frankel has already taken on legendary status in our sport, so I am sure that this range of merchandise will prove very popular," Rod Street, the chief executive of the British Champions Series, which will sell the merchandise, said. "We are so fortunate to have such a remarkable horse to help promote British racing around the globe."

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