While Gerard was beaming about the options She's A Thief now has from her perfect barrier, she saw something a few hours earlier that suggested a new player has emerged as a winning chance in the race.
"I couldn't be happier with her [She's A Thief] and the way she galloped this morning she has improved since she last raced," says Gerard.
"But without a word of a lie, Bocce has improved just as much maybe even more.
"After watching them work today I don't think there is much between them as our best chance, even though She's A Thief will be one of the favourites.
Flying fillies
• The girls got the better of the draws for Saturday's two $1 million features at Ellerslie.
• Avantage and She's A Thief now head the market for the Karaka Million for two-year-olds.
• Savvy Coup and Contessa Vanessa drew best of the favourites in the three-year-old Classic Mile, with the well-fancied boys drawing wide.
• All six races on the twilight programme are either group or listed level.
"She has that class and the draw now so she has options and I think she can lead or trail and still win. She definitely doesn't have to be in front.
"But Bocce at barrier two comes right into the race. He got a but lost at Ellerslie last time, with the rail out 9m and the blinkers on so we have taken them off and the way he worked with the filly he is not far behind her, if at all.
"And he is the sort of horse who will love it out there in a race that can have a bit of bumping and shoving. He is like a little bumper car."
With the stable also having Scorch drawn barrier eight they have probably taken a tactical advantage over Te Akau's five runners in the race, even though Avantage looks beautifully served by barrier five and roughie Pinot Grey has the ace.
Te Akau's nine, 10 and 14 for their other three runners mean they could need luck, although things can change very quickly in the first 200m of New Zealand's richest juvenile race.
Te Akau's luck wasn't much better in the draw for Saturday's other $1m three-year-old classic, with favourite Embellish to start from 13 of 17.
The 2000 Guineas winner hardly budged in the market though, with TAB bookies believing the addition of blinkers and some Opie Bosson magic can overcome the wide draw.
He has still fared better than fellow Riccarton classic winner Hasahalo, with the 1000 Guineas heroine to start from barrier 15 although that probably suits her racing style as she tries to go one better then her Millions second last season.
Iron filly Contessa Vanessa, who has already raced at eight different tracks right around the country in her 14-start career, looks well placed at barrier five as does Eulogy Stakes winner Savvy Coup.
The filly who split that pair in the Eulogy and subsequently won the Desert Gold at Trentham on Saturday, Dijon Bleu, was the most notable withdrawal pre-draw yesterday, her trainer Lisa Latta now aiming her at the Sir Tristram at Te Rapa as she heads down a possible New Zealand Oaks path.
With fine weather forecast for the weekend Ellerslie bosses are expecting a crowd of 12,000 but have braced themselves for potentially more.
"If it is fine like it is supposed to be we could pass that and even get close to 15,000, which is capacity," says ARC's chief executive Paul Wilcox.
"With the move to Saturday, the two $1m races, plenty of people already here for the sales and the depth of the card at a time when plenty of Aucklanders are back from their holidays, this has now gone from being a big meeting to being huge."
