KEY POINTS:
There are two reasons why Neville Couchman is not thinking about the No 1 barrier draw counting against Gee I Jane in tomorrow's $200,000 Telegraph Handicap.
The first is that he feels it is time to believe all his Gee I Jane bad luck is behind him.
And the second is his acceptance that he has the right rider on to counteract the possibility of a poor passage - Lisa Cropp.
Because of its dog-leg configuration, the 1200m chute at Trentham can at times see inside horses battling to find clear space ahead in larger fields.
In tight competitive races such as the Telegraph the ideal scenario is for horses back on the inside to start working into the clear before the field meets the course proper running rail 400m out.
"I'm not worrying about the draw, only about the run the mare gets after the gates open," said Couchman.
"I know I've got the right rider on to get her a clear run."
Grant Cooksley rode Gee I Jane when she was beaten by a nose in the group one Railway at Ellerslie on January 1.
The mare's connections sought a rider change and Cropp will be having her first raceday ride on Gee I Jane.
Cropp rode the mare in a gallop for the first time at Cambridge last week and was on her back again on Monday for what was her final serious gallop.
"I like the way the two of them get on," said Couchman.
The Cambridge trainer is concerned only with obtaining the right passage through the slick 1200m, not Gee I Jane's opposition.
"If she gets the run they're going to have to be right on their game to beat her. I've never see her look better and her work on Monday morning was super.
"I dead set can't get her any better."
A year ago Gee I Jane started from probably an ideal barrier No 10 in the Telegraph and blew her rivals off the racetrack, running the 1200m in an electric 1.7.77.
That day she carried Australian rider Scott Seamer and 55.5kg - this time she has to lump 58kg topweight.
That is no easy task for a mare, but she has remarkable talent, is extremely strong and very fit.
The weight makes it all the more important to get a clear run - stopping and starting and changing direction and changing legs would make it almost impossible to win with 58kg at this level.
Five and a half lengths behind Gee I Jane in the Telegraph last year was Baldessarini and Cropp, a combination that had no luck from an inside No 5 barrier.
Shocking memories of last year will at least provide Cropp with an insight of what to avoid on Gee I Jane.
