KEY POINTS:
Ralph Manning loathes talking Seachange up any more than he has for fear of jinxing her shot at the head-spinning riches ahead.
But after watching our champion mare waltz home at the Paeroa trials yesterday her Cambridge trainer could not keep a lid on his excitement.
"I hate
saying it, but she's come back bigger and stronger again this year," said Manning of the TAB's early $3.80 Telegraph Handicap favourite.
"Her arse is wider but she's not as fat, and her times at home have been sensational."
Seachange and regular rider Gavin McKeon won in a relative canter over 1000m in 59.72s yesterday, leaving her only two opponents, one-race winning three-year-olds Murano and Aster King, gasping four lengths adrift.
Manning admits a more challenging tune-up would have been preferable with the country's toughest handicap sprint just 10 days away.
But he was still rapt with the effortless way Seachange found another gear for McKeon went he asked her to quicken in the straight.
Manning said Seachange had pulled up sore after her shock last-start defeat in the Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on October 27.
He was reluctant to elaborate on the problems, however, other than to say they were, "just a couple of niggling injuries", which are now well behind her.
All Seachange needs now is a break from the handicapper at Trentham on Saturday week.
Seachange had 55.5kg last year when chasing Darci Brahma home in the Telegraph.
Manning says if the winner of $1.29 million in stakes gets 58kg this time he'll be happy.
"It's not the ideal race but it's the only one for her in the lead-up to Dubai," said Manning, referring to the mare's main autumn target, the US$5 million Dubai Duty Free (1777m) on March 29.
"She's not really a 1200m horse either, but she's classy and she can do anything.
"I wouldn't say I'm confident [of winning the Telegraph] and she won't be at her best, but she's pretty well at the moment."
Safely through her Trentham assignment, Manning says she'll back-up in the weight-for-age Waikato Draught sprint over 1400m at Te Rapa on February 9.
The Otaki-Maori Weight-For-Age (1600m) on February 22 is also on the radar.
While her final lead-ups to the Duty Free in Dubai which invariably attracts a strong international field are yet to be finalised, whatever road Seachange takes Manning is confident that with conditions to suit she won't be there making up the numbers.
"She would have won either Kelts with a decent draw and it all depends on the how the race [in Dubai] is run," he said.
"When Elvstroem won [in 2005] he walked early in the lead and killed them. If they let her do the same thing she'll be hard to beat, but I know the Arabs like to win their own race."
