Inaugural winner Vincent Mangano came out of gate No 14, covered more ground than any runner and got up under Vinnny Colgan. Difficult to argue that he was outstandingly the best horse in the field, but he certainly was on race night.
The Heckler (2009) drew gate No 2, stayed on the rail trailing the leaders and drove through.
Queensland filly Sister Havana was clearly the best horse in the field in 2010, drew gate No 1 and came from three back the rails to win easily.
The significance of the rail is often important in juvenile races as Ruud Awakening showed in winning from the front last year and Fort Lincoln in 2011 when he was not required to cover much extra ground.
The exception was Melbourne-trained Ockham's Razor, who drew out, was the widest runner a fair way back on the home bend and powered up the centre of the track under Craig Williams to score stylishly.
It's clear that the best horsein the Karaka Million can winfrom any barrier, except for extremely bad luck.
But that poses an issue for this running because there is no standout runner.
This is an eclectic mix of reasonably experienced juveniles and newcomers such as Divissima and Longchamp who have both impressed in debut victories at their only start.
Understandably, Way In's trainer Shaune Ritchie is devastated by the filly's outside barrier draw.
"Not one word that came out of my mouth for one hour after I saw the draw yesterday would be able to be published in a national newspaper," said the Cambridge trainer.
"Realistically, there is only one 2-year-old race in New Zealand worth winning each year and that's the Karaka Million. That's no disrespect to the two group ones at Ellerslie and Manawatu.
"Trainers at Karaka next week will be looking for a Karaka Million horse, not one for any other specific race. When you draw the outside gate you have to be three lengths better than them and I'm not sure she is.
"She's gone from a $6 chance to a $20 chance. She doesn't have a great deal of early gate speed, which means she's going to have to rely on luck.
"Tommy Berry is going to have to use all his well-publicised talent to get her home."
Berry is a confident rider, an element critical to success when something unorthodox is about to be tried.
Berry used that when he won last year's Golden Slipper aboard the Gai Waterhouse-trained Overreach.
Four overseas-based riders will compete in the Million. James McDonald needs no introduction as he goes out to manage impressive filly Divissima. The others are Noel Callow on $16 chance Dragon Lair and Kerrin McEvoy aboard Massale.
Although these are not races you can generally get too confident in, Johno Benner has plenty of confidence he can win with the second favourite Vespa.
His logic withstands plenty of inspection. "I thought he should just about have won the Eclipse Stakes at Ellerslie last start. He certainly would have been second to Vinnie Eagle if he hadn't been rolled at the start and might have won.
"If he had three wins against his name instead of two wins and a third, I'm sure plenty of people would be saying he's the clear favourite and should win it."
You can make a strong case that if Vinnie Eagle had been eligible for the race he would be favourite.
"We're coming up there [from Otaki] pretty happy and pretty confident.
"He's got a good constitution and his shins are rock hard - the things you need in 2-year-olds at this time of year. We've got a good barrier [No 4] and a good jockey in Mark Du Plessis, so we're happy."
Market: $5 Divissima, $5.50 Vespa, $7 Riding Shotgun, $9 Longchamp, $10 Jackofall, $12 Coachella, Way Inn; $14 Flaming, Massale; $18 Perkins, O'Marilyn, Prince Mambo; $21 Staccato, Douro, Dragon Lair; $31 Serein.
Way In will need plenty to go his way to weigh in after the Karaka Million on Sunday at Ellerslie.Picture / Trish Dunell
Ritchie shattered after stable hope cops the outside draw for nation's richest race
Previous Karaka Million winners
2008, barrier 14, Vincent Mangano: Got back, looped the field wide on the home bend and won stylishly.
2009, 2, The Heckler: 6th on the rails, drove through in the home straight. Covered no extra ground.
2010, 1, Sister Havana: 3 deep on inside rail. Strong home straight drive. Too good.
2011, 1, Fort Lincoln: 4 back on rails. Drove through. Covered practically no extra ground.
2012, 12, Ockham's Razor: Back and wide. Loomed wide on the bend. Too good, too strong. Best in field.
2013, 7, Ruud Awakening: Quickly in front. Gave nothing else a chance. Best in field.
