KEY POINTS:
Having a horse as good as Seachange means you have the luxury of not specifically worrying about any particular runner.
Trainer Ralph Manning is not declaring Seachange a good thing in tomorrow's $60,000 Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate, but he admits he sees his biggest danger as the weather.
The forecast for Hamilton is for overnight rain clearing this morning with reasonable conditions through the remainder of the day and tomorrow.
The Te Rapa track condition yesterday was 3.7 slow, which would be around what it is likely to be tomorrow, unless significant rain falls this morning.
That would result in conditions a little better than when Seachange was surprisingly beaten in last year's Foxbridge Plate by half a length and a head by Bulginbaah and Don't Ya Lovett.
Although not entirely happy in the track conditions that day, Seachange was as much beaten by a real lack of race fitness.
The high class mare was coming back from a long break after an injury, whereas this preparation is off a normal spell, which itself was shorter than many horses require.
"She's a lot fitter than when she went into this race last year," says Manning.
Understandably the Cambridge trainer has unshakeable faith in Seachange.
"At her last start in Australia she split Aqua D'Amour and El Segundo in the Futurity at Caulfield and they're lengths ahead of anything we've got in New Zealand."
Put like that, it's understandable that Manning sees rain as his main enemy.
As if he needed any further signal that Seachange was in the best possible shape to head to the big money through the Hastings spring treble, Manning couldn't resist a smile when Seachange finished her gallop at Cambridge yesterday morning.
"That was huge work," he said.
The TAB is taking no chances, quoting Seachange as the $1.75 favourite last night.
The rest of the market is:
* $6.50 Bulginbaah, Cog Hill
* $10 Sarajay
* $12 Veloce Bella
* $14 Aimee's Idol
* $15 Floydeboy
* $18 Baltaine
* $31 Suave Dancer.
Pushed to declare one horse he thought might be a danger if the track worked against Seachange, Manning went for Floydeboy.
"He's a very good horse."
Sarajay has been the centre of some interest since her barrier trial win at Te Teko last week.
She ran in probably the easiest of the open heats and ran no time, but rider Noel Harris sat right against her in the final stages. Sarajay was one of the surprise packages of the second half of the season and at $10 the TAB is keeping her safe.
Veloce Bella will be improved for her first-up fifth behind Seachange at Hastings. She beat all the quality fillies last season and it would be no surprise to see her figure prominently here.
Manning summed up the race perfectly: "The better the track, the better Seachange's chances."
