KEY POINTS:
Exactly how fast Changeover worked in his final serious outing before the Miracle Mile will remain a mystery forever.
But trainer Geoff Small knows it was fast enough to fuel his belief he can win tonight's A$500,000 ($590,000) speed test at Harold Park in Sydney.
Changeover will meet Australia's greatest pacer, Blacks A Fake, in the Miracle Mile, and even though there are six other top-class horses in the field it would surprise if one of the two favourites doesn't win.
Because Blacks A Fake is a champion and Changeover might be one.
The pair have made a habit of winning the biggest races they contest for most of the last three seasons and although neither is ideally suited to 1760m around Harold Park, they have a class edge on their rivals and the best barrier draws.
As good as Changeover is, Blacks A Fake has been phenomenal in the past two years and from barrier two tonight dominates betting and the thoughts of rival drivers.
Small knows for Changeover to beat Blacks A Fake he has to get in front of him or directly behind him. Anything else may set a mission impossible.
So on Monday morning he gave Changeover an unusual workout, asking him to sprint hard at the start and end of his outing, mirroring the racing pattern of a Miracle Mile.
The result was, well, untimed.
"I really buzzed him up the first few hundred metres and we were flying," Small told the Herald.
"I was hoping to get a time for his first section [400m] but we were going so fast I was too busy trying to slow him down. I don't know how fast we went, but he felt great."
Changeover has since travelled and settled well in Sydney.
He may have more sheer speed than Blacks A Fake and Small says he would love to be sitting on the favourite's back coming to the 400m.
That is possible as most people expect Blacks A Fake to be parked outside potential leader Special Albert.
If that happens it will be race on.
But if Blacks A Fake is able to cross to the lead, it may be race over.
The great horse disappointed when third in a lead-up race last Friday but trainer-driver Natalie Rasmussen says he will be a different animal this week. "He needed the run last week and was blowing after it."
Outside of the two great stallions, Melpark Major and Divisive look the threats.
GUERIN PICKS
1 Blacks A Fake
2 Changeover
3 Divisive
