KEY POINTS:
Most people are happy just to win a group-rated race regardless of margin.
Shaune Ritchie hopes the favourite Magic Cape not only wins tomorrow's $100,000 Mercedes Championship Stakes (2100m) at Ellerslie, he would love to see him being so impressive he will throw a scare into a stable or two.
And those are the stables containing the top-class fillies that are currently swinging on whether they will run against Magic Cape and the male 3-year-olds in the $700,000 Mercedes Derby or against the fillies in the $300,000 NZ Oaks at Trentham two weeks later.
One of those fillies is Veloce Bella, dashing winner of last week's $100,000 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic at Te Rapa.
Her Matamata trainer, Mark Brosnan, said immediately after that race he would leave his decision on a Derby or Oaks run for the filly until he had watched tomorrow's Championship Stakes to evaluate the performance of its leading runners.
Not that Ritchie is declaring his $4 Derby favourite unbeatable in this final lead-up.
"I'm very happy with the horse, but he'll be ridden to his usual pattern, which is cold.
"Every start this preparation has been aimed at teaching him to run the 2400m of the Derby and to mess around with that at this late stage would be silly.
"The last thing I would want to see is him pushed out of the gates, have a hard race and risk flattening him with only two weeks to the Derby.
"That's not to say he'll be last in the running, but he'll be allowed to settle where he's comfortable."
Ritchie is reasonably confident Magic Cape has the best final sprint in the race and that he needs only to be close to the right spot in the closing stages to launch it.
Magic Cape is the last of the leading 3-year-olds in the Derby to be tried beyond 1600m, but his trainer has been confident in his staying ability all the way through.
"It's one thing to indicate you'll manage 2400m and another thing to actually do it, but I don't have too many concerns."
The main dangers here - and possibly in the Derby - look to be Stolen Thunder and Uberalles, despite them finishing 9th and 6th in the Waikato Guineas at Te Rapa last start.
There is no question back runners were inconvenienced that day and Stolen Thunder in particular looked affected.
His final placing that day may not indicate it, but he was running on late and this race should be infinitely more suitable.
Trainer Lance O'Sullivan applied blinkers to Stolen Thunder last start and the gear should work extremely well tomorrow.
Uberalles is an example of how much of the form from Te Rapa on February 3 can be forgotten.
She is from the great staying mare Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner Ethereal and looked good finishing well for third at only her fourth start in the Great Northern Guineas at Ellerslie, yet could get no go-forward last time.
She has drawn an extremely wide barrier and will start from gate No 15 if the field remains intact and with decent luck from there we should see her running on powerfully.
Uberalles gives the impression she will get better and better.
Blimey O'Reilly led and won the Waikato Guineas, but it may not be smart to assume the win was solely the result of the on-pace bias.
Trainer Ross Elliot has an opinion of the O'Reilly 3-year-old and with only four raceday starts behind him it's fair to assume he's still improving.
Sydney colt Redoute's Dancer is the interesting runner.
It's difficult to fully line up his Sydney form - two wins, two seconds from five starts - against this field, although there is some degree of stepping up in class.
He races very dour and might be better suited when he gets to the 2400m Derby distance, but he fights hard and is almost certain to go forward early and try and force the pace at some stage of the second half of the race to ensure a stayers' contest.
Young Zeus is an improver and Brut Force is better than his unplaced Te Rapa efforts suggests.
