Racing: Kiwi star deals to Australia's best

Let's get one fact out of the way first - It's A Dundeel is one hell of a horse.

Okay, two facts - and James McDonald is one hell of a good jockey.

But, it also needs to be said Atlantic Jewel was somewhere off her best when she failed to hold It's A Dundeel out at the finish of Saturday's A$400,000 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield.

How far off her best we will only know by the mare's next couple of races. Backing the previously unbeaten mare up in seven days was always a gamble and it paid a very poor dividend.

Her coat looked fine in the pre-race parade but she showed signs of slightly tucking up behind the saddle.

At this level 99 per cent right is not good enough - there is nowhere to hide when the pressure comes on.

And didn't James McDonald exploit it?

This is a race It's A Dundeel should not have been able to see off Atlantic Jewel in.

The 1800m was too sharp for him and he was still on the way up - the scary element is he is going to get much better.

The brilliance to make the unplanned move of taking it to the outstanding mare from the outset was pure instinct. Only the absolute greats in the world of sport have that.

A relieved and excited trainer Murray Baker said yesterday: "We knew we couldn't afford to allow her a soft lead and try and outsprint her from well back. The plan was to go a little forward, but I got a shock when I saw what James did."

Baker is one of racing's most circumspect characters, but he was extremely animated by the excitement of Saturday's thriller. "That was such a great field - the best Underwood line-up anyone can remember.

"There were 11 group one winners of more than 20 group one races."

Baker became even more excited when he removed It's A Dundeel's rug at Russell Cameron's Flemington stable yesterday morning. The entire had come through the dogfight brilliantly.

"He's pulled up perfectly, just sensationally.

"He just loves being a racehorse, this bloke."

Leading corporate bookmaker Alan Eskander believes punters should not over-react after Atlantic Jewel's first beaten performance.

"The track was soft, you had to be near the lead and off the fence, and that's where the first two were all the way in the Underwood."

But the public immediately voted with their wallets. It's A Dundeel, $10 to win the Cox Plate pre-race, was made joint Cox favourite with Atlantic Jewel at $3.60. The previous best you could get on Atlantic Jewel was $2.60.

It was the third Underwood Stakes for Murray Baker.

"I won it with The Phantom in 1990 with Grant Cooksley in the saddle."

The Lion Tamer won it and his rider was Michael Rodd, who rode Atlantic Jewel this time. "Historic statistics don't always work out, but often they do. No mare has won the Underwood since Tristarc in 1985. Thirty have tried it and I think only three have been placed.

"Obviously it's a very tough race for mares. Not everyone believed that, though, because before the race no matter who you spoke to it was a matter of Atlantic Jewel simply lining up."

The Atlantic Jewel camp has a lot of thinking to do. Plans before Saturday were for It's A Dundeel and Atlantic Jewel to meet next in the 2000m Caulfield Stakes and there will be plenty of interest in whether the mare's connections press on with that plan.

The mare's jockey, Michael Rodd, said: "No excuses from our camp; we had a beautiful run in front. It was a beautiful ride by James McDonald.

"He had the stamina but [Atlantic Jewel] will be better off ridden by us stalking them and will certainly improve a bit from that run. Our mare is still a star."

However, the Baker stable is sitting with the port entry into the box.

"He's still on the way up. We backed off his work leading up to this race because we knew we had to have a fair bit of sprint to beat the mare. He'll get better."

And that's shocking news for the rest.

It's A Dundeel has won five group one races in Australia, four of them in his past six race starts.

That's some record.