KEY POINTS:
Blase will have a special school over the big Te Rapa fences tomorrow morning to help his cause in the $50,000 Braxton Waikato Steeplechase later in the day.
Hawera-trained Blase is an accomplished jumper - he picked up A$123,816 ($139,500) winning the Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank six weeks ago - but he has yet to face fences as tall and testing as Te Rapa's.
Trainer Bob Baker is aware that some jumpers are cautious when they face the Te Rapa country for the first time.
"The fences are big. I wouldn't want him going out there without having seen them," said Baker.
"He might jump them a bit high to start with, but he's a professional jumper - he'll be okay."
Blase has been beaten only twice over jumps, when third to Cleaview Bay in the Oakbank lead-up and in one of his three New Zealand hurdle starts.
Baker is delighted Blase has come through his relatively tough Australian campaign well - so well in fact that last Saturday he was able to score his first win on the flat against a moderate maiden distance field at New Plymouth.
The opposition may not have been flash but for a jumper it was a good effort and showed Blase to be at the top of his form.
Baker had considered running Blase in the Waikato Hurdles, but was swayed to switching to the Steeplechase when regular rider Isaac Lupton was committed to one of the favourites, Norville Prince, in the Hurdles.
"He would have been competitive in the Waikato Hurdles."
One of the real dangers is up-and-comer Hypnotize, who is two from two in steeplechases.
In terms of tractability Hypnotize has a lot to learn, but you could not help but be impressed with the way he dashed away from the opposition in the closing stages of his lead-up win at Te Rapa two weeks ago.
In his first look at Te Rapa, he was inclined to jump the first few fences quite high, but levelled out and is certain to have learned a lot from the experience.
The way Hypnotize ran out the closing stages of the 4000m lead-up, tomorrow's 4900m should be no problem to him.
Gary Vile's original two-pronged attack on the Waikato Steeplechase has been cut in half with a fetlock injury to Sam McClay, who chased Hypnotize home in the first day lead-up. Vile will now have only Fenman, who was third in that race.
"It's just one of those things and will probably take two to three weeks to clear up, but don't worry, Fenman is a very worthy contender."
Fenman finished strongly two weeks ago and rider Eddie Lamb predicted that day that the Waikato Steeplechase distance would suit the horse.
"Blase is a very sharp horse and so is Hypnotize, but Fenman should be right in it," predicted Vile.
Tommy Hazlett is riding Wingatui-trained Jamie's Chance, who is making his northern debut.
"Paul Richards has always had a pretty good opinion of the horse and last year he showed form over hurdles good enough to suggest he could have a crack at one of the big races, perhaps the Wellington Hurdles, but he developed a problem that was only slight.
"He won the Great Western, but this is a pretty big jump up in class. He relaxes, he has a pretty good kick at the finish and he jumps well - there's three good positives."
