Racing: Moonlighting may soon be a memory

Neville Couchman comes down to earth from his first group one winning high with a backbreaking thud today.

Just two days after scoring the biggest win of his career with Gee I Jane in the $120,000 Telegraph Handicap, the public Cambridge trainer is making ends meet this week by tossing 220 bales of hay a day on to a truck in Rotorua.

"I don't mind a bit of physical work," said 35-year-old Couchman, who recently went halves with a mate in a hay-contracting business.

"I do calf-feeding in the season as well to supplement things a bit."

If Couchman's big-race dream pans out, however, the moonlighting days outside his six-strong racing team for the 13-year veteran may soon be numbered. Eight of those years were in partnership with his father Don.

Top Australian carnival rider Scott Seamer unsaddled Gee I Jane at Trentham on Saturday convinced Couchman had the horsepower to win one of the world's richest sprints, the A$1million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) in Brisbane in June.

Gee I Jane is yet to score over that distance, from just a handful of tries.

But Seamer is adamant that the Jahafill mare, out of the former Couchman-trained Miss Distinction, will be suited by the pattern of the group one event.

"Scott says they run the Stradbroke like a six-furlong (1200m) race," said Couchman.

"In some of the lead-up races like the Doomben 10,000 it's a sit and sprint, but in the Stradbroke there's 20 horses going flat-out from the jump.

"There's a $1million up for grabs and everyone wants to win it."

Gee I Jane has campaigned twice in Australia before but never been seen at her best.

A lung infection plagued her last attempt in Melbourne last spring.

Just where Gee I Jane runs before her return, Couchman will try to narrow down between hay hauling runs this week.

He says the group one $100,000 Waikato Draught Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on February 11 is still on the short list.

"But I'm not sure if that would be a race that will suit her," he said.

"There would have to be genuine speed in the race. At weight-for-age you don't want to be choking them up then asking them to quicken again.

"Under those conditions it's a hell of a lot harder.

"Apart from that race there really isn't much around. That's why we are forced to take good horses like her to Australia."

Yesterday Couchman wasn't sure on where his loyal Hawkes Bay owners Kieran McCarthy and Lance Mackie stood on future plans; he doubts they were in much of a talking mood after the Telegraph celebrations.

But he is convinced they should have been toasting their fourth group one win on Saturday night instead of their first.

"Gee I Jane had rotten passages in both the Railway and Telegraph Handicaps last year, and had luck go against her again when second to Baldessarini in the 2006 Railway.

"She's the best six-furlong horse in New Zealand and has been for the last 12 months," said Couchman.

On Saturday Gee I Jane finally had things go her way and she proved she was the best.

Couchman was glad that all the focus was on Baldessarini leading into the race.

It took all the pressure off preparing Gee I Jane, a beaten favourite in last year's Telegraph when locked up on the fence.

The final key was Gee I Jane drawing the 11 gate. She came in one with Clifton Prince's scratching, which allowed Seamer to stay clear of traffic problems in transit.

"From out there I knew we could stay out of trouble," said Couchman.

"I told Scott if she travels deep it doesn't worry me, just don't go until you get to the course proper.

"When he did he only had to give her one flick of the whip, the rest was just hands and heels.

"That was the best run she's had since winning the Concorde [2004]."

Baldessarini, however, got the kind of trip Couchman was used to watching with Gee I Jane.

The hot favourite was shuffled back worse than midfield in the early running, then held up near the fence for most of the straight before finishing strongly for sixth.