KEY POINTS:
Despite the crushing win by Seachange in the opening race of Hastings' rich spring treble, the champion mare's rivals are not waving white flags just yet.
Trainers of the nearest Mudgway Partsworld Stakes' chasers on Saturday - Cog Hill, J'Adane and Jokers Wild - are itching for a
rematch in the next leg, the $250,000 Stoney Bridge Stakes (1600m) on September 22.
The series climaxes with the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m) on October 6.
From wide draws to the off-track, a lack of race-fitness and a distance (1400m) short of their best, collectively the beaten brigade believe there are enough excuses to turn the tables on Seachange.
But the really scary thing is, no one's seen the best of the newly crowned Horse of the Year either, warns rider Gavin McKeon.
"We haven't even seen her best win yet - that's yet to come," said McKeon who didn't have to ask New Zealand's latest million-dollar earner for her top gear on Saturday.
"She's a lot stronger horse this time and if she is going to run 2000m [in the Kelt Capital Stakes] this will be her year. She wasn't quite tough enough last season. She was off the bit and beaten when we came into the straight and the fact she ran third was a huge effort.
"But if she can get to the 200m this year and then run out of fuel I think I can get her home."
When McKeon makes statements like that, it pays to listen.
It's doubtful there's been a stronger big-race bond between jockey and horse in recent years.
Yesterday on Trackside's Retro show McKeon admitted he bypassed the Mercedes Awards ceremony Friday night because he would have been too upset had Seachange not won the supreme award.
And as he returned to scale aboard Seachange on Saturday, an emotionally-charged McKeon had his heart on his silk sleeve again.
"She's changed a bush jockey's life," he told Trackside's clerk of the course Tommy Hazlett.
"I was a good apprentice in Brisbane, that's about all, then I found this horse and she's changed my life."
Trainer Ralph Manning, relieved that Seachange had so effortlessly overcome a track chipping out near the fence, was almost as animated after the win.
"She's an awesome animal," he said. "The pressure was on because of peoples' expectations, especially after winning Horse of the Year you don't want to let them down.
"But no matter what argument they find against her, she keeps on proving that she is the best."
For all the improvement he knows Seachange still has, however, he's wary of labelling his champ a triple-crown certainty at Hastings.
He says Starcraft's experience there three years back proves that even if they look invincible on paper, plans don't always go to script.
Rated one of the best milers in the world at the time, Starcraft stylishly won the first two legs, before finishing second to Balmuse in the Kelt.
Rival trainer Richard Collett, for one, believes his fast-finishing Mudgway runner-up Cog Hill can beat Seachange in the Kelt, maybe even next up in the Stoney Bridge too.
"I give my horse a chance of beating Seachange at 1600m, that's a distance more suitable to us," said Collett.
"But at the end of the day, our main focus has always been on the Kelt and I'd be more confident of beating her in the final race."
Collett was thrilled with Saturday's race, considering Cog Hill jumped from the outside gate and never picked up the bridle until the 800m peg.
With 500m remaining first-time partner Michael Walker had to make a call on whether to cover extra ground to make his bid, or pick a path nearer the worst patch along the fence.
The fact he chose the latter on a flat-footed Cog Hill and still closed to a length of Seachange left Collett beaming.
"If we'd won over 1400m it meant that we might not get 2000m [in the Kelt] and that's the race we've been focusing on to win," he said.
Pukekohe co-trainer Russell Cameron was also pleased with J'Adane's fresh-up third and expects her to be tougher to beat as the spring series progresses and the track firms.
Rider Mark Du Plessis stalked Seachange all the way on the Danehill grey, but couldn't muster the acceleration when he asked her to sprint.
"She'll be better suited to the 1600m and she didn't ping off the track like I know she can," said Cameron. "We'll push on to the Stoney Bridge, there's not going to be much between them."
Fourth-placed Jokers Wild could be the biggest Stoney Bridge improver of them all.
He came within two lengths of overcoming three massive hurdles on Saturday; a horror gate, a track he loathes and an on-going battle to mend his tender front feet.
Co-trainer Paul Moroney said Jokers Wild had fitness queries hanging over him all week after pulling a shoe in a Tuesday track gallop.
By Friday Moroney and rider Michael Coleman thought he'd shaken off the injury scare, but Coleman said the giant chestnut didn't quite let down like he knows he can.
"We've got three weeks to get him right and he'll take natural improvement from the race," said Moroney. "He had the toughest run of any horse apart from Sir Slick and he ran near last while we soldiered on."
