Racing: Seachange leaves rivals standing

Ralph Manning was shaking his head in disbelief following stable star Seachange's stunning victory over three rivals in the $15,000 3-Year-Old event at Woodville yesterday.

The Cambridge-based trainer knew Seachange would be well short of peak fitness because she hadn't raced for two months. But even he was lost for words after the daughter of Cape Cross handed out a 5 1/4 length thumping to fellow age group star Wahid.

Seachange raced in the unfamiliar role of leader in the 1400m event and lengthened stride effortlessly for regular jockey Gavin McKeon in the home stretch to leave her rivals struggling.

"The whole point of bringing her down to Woodville was the fact that it would be a nice race to kick off her new campaign and it made sense to go around for stake money as opposed to giving her a run at the trials," said Manning.

"She was big and burly heading into the race and she had a good blow afterwards so it's pleasing to get a nice soft run into her first-up and also pick up the $15,000 TBS bonus attached to winning the race.

"I really thought she was vulnerable to defeat in this race as she was well short of peak fitness but Allan Sharrock [trainer of Wahid] was in the same boat as me.

"Allan's getting Wahid ready for the New Zealand Derby in March and I'm looking at the middle distance feature fillies events like the Sir Tristram Classic and the New Zealand Oaks," said Manning.

"My filly had a soft time in front and she was able to kick on Wahid and got the win pretty easily. She'll race next in the Desert Gold at Trentham followed by the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic [Te Rapa] and New Zealand Oaks [Trentham].

"It was good that she could race in front as it's another option we can always look at developing with her. She's raced off the pace in her other four race starts."

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Manten clinched a likely starting position in the field for the $120,000 Telegraph Handicap after his impressive win at Woodville.

Co-trainer Stephen Autridge now feels a lot more confident about the racing future of the 4-year-old who flew down the home stretch to gun down highly-regarded filly Mi Jubilee.

"We told the Japanese owners of this horse a while ago that they might as well book their tickets to fly to Wellington to watch the horse contest the Telegraph. Then he was disappointing in his last start when finishing third at New Plymouth," said Autridge.

"I was scratching my head a little after that run at New Plymouth and feeling pretty sick in the stomach about telling the owners to travel out here from Japan to New Zealand when the horse wasn't quite doing what we thought he could.

"I just told Darryl Bradley [winning jockey] that there was no point in going forward in this race as seven of the 11 acceptors liked to lead and it may be a good idea to ride him a bit differently. Darryl did a brilliant job as he got back and finished over the top of them very strongly despite lugging inwards over the last part of the race.

"It's good that this horse can now be ridden off the speed as, when he gets up into Group One company, you can't expect to lead all the time.

"As long as the speed and pressure are on in front for the entire race, that really suits this horse. We're pretty certain he'll get a start in the Telegraph Handicap at Trentham," said Autridge.

"We'll have a very strong assault on the Telegraph as Keeninsky and Pin Up Boy are starting in the race as well as Manten and I'll be very happy if they all draw a good alley."

The $120,000 (Group One) Telegraph Handicap will be run at Trentham on January 21.

Last year the Rogerson-Autridge-trained Keeninsky won the Telegraph in convincing fashion.

Manten unleashed a blistering sprint down the outer of the track to reel in the pace-setting Mi Jubilee by 1 1/4 lengths with a further 1 1/2 lengths back to Roaring Jake (third).


- HERALD ON SUNDAY