KEY POINTS:
Seachange finished within two lengths of stylish winner Lord Admiral, ridden by Mick Kinane after tracking the leader, South Africa's Jay Peg, who finished second.
"Ralph (Manning) was thrilled with the run," said ownership manager Rick Williams yesterday.
"And her rider Ted Durcan was apparently even more thrilled."
The Dubai-based Irish jockey got Seachange out fast as usual and the pair crossed over to land behind the leader. Seachange carried a 3kg penalty as a group one winner and the 58kg made it difficult for her late in the race down the tough 600m home straight at Nad Al Sheba.
But even more significant was the certain improvement she will take from the race. She has a well-known trait of stacking on condition between races and the camp knew she was in need of the run.
"We know four weeks between runs is not ideal for her and she apparently had a decent blow afterwards," said Williams.
"Ted Durcan said the fact she didn't quite see it out was not to do with the distance (1777m), but everything to do with conditioning.
"We wondered about the 1777m, but Ted told Ralph she'll be fine with the distance."
Seachange's big mission is the US$5 million ($6.3 m) Dubai Duty Free over the same 1777m later this month.
"The great thing is Ralph says he now knows where he is with her [fitness].
"It's always difficult when you've got a horse that needs as much work as she does and you don't know the track you're working on and you can't work with other horses because of the quarantine regulations.
"He says he has a much better feel of her now.
"You could see at the start little signs of agitation from her that she doesn't have when she's right."
Seachange drops the 3kg penalty for the big race and will carry a much more comfortable 55kg in the international field.
"The lighter weight will be good, but there will be two or three new horses in the Duty Free - and they'll be the good ones - so nothing's going to be easy. It would be nice to draw an alley and just let her flop out.
"Even though she has good gate speed and can cross most fields like she did this time, it's still preferable to draw in close and not have to work."
Ralph Manning told reporters in Dubai he had lacked confidence in how she might perform.
"We don't get any trackwork companions or anything over here, so she was always going to benefit from the run," he told NZPA after the race.
"And with the draw (16) she had to work hard early. It's a tough track when you haven't had the racing."
Several horses began making their move on the front runners about 200m from the finish and Manning said he felt it was only the last 50m that Seachange was swamped.
Manning said Durcan was confident the mare could produce her best in the Duty Free.
"He told me `I wouldn't want to ride anything else in the big one'."
Yesterday's race was run late at night local time on a dead track.
- NZPA
