KEY POINTS:
Some things are just meant to be.
When trainer Evan Rayner reached for the phone last week he was looking in the Thorougbbred Monthly magazine for the number of jockeys' manager Wally O'Hearn.
He needed a rider for Baltaine in Saturday's $60,000 Foxbridge Plate.
By mistake Rayner dialled
the number of Lenny Goord, Lisa Cropp's manager.
Never one to let an opportunity slip by, Goord told Rayner: "Call it fate, she'll ride your horse."
Luck plays such a huge part in every facet of horse racing.
"I'm just a lucky jockey," said Cropp, fizzing with trademark effervescence immediately after Baltaine had put paid to a high class field in the Foxbridge.
It was a race packed with drama - the country's eyes were on outstanding mare Seachange trying to overcome a dislike of wet footing.
Only time and the $250,000 Mudgway Stakes at Hastings in two weeks will tell us whether Seachange's fifth placing, 2.2 lengths from Baltaine, was due entirely to the heavy conditions, but for now you have to believe it was.
Rider Gavin McKeon was hugely disappointed. "I thought she'd win despite the conditions," he said.
"I thought off the back of several strong gallops in the wet she'd do it.
"She ran through a swamp and felt good last Monday morning, but I guess raceday is different."
McKeon found something in Seachange he hadn't experienced before - she pulled herself up in the final strides because of the conditions.
"She's never done that before - she looked after herself.
"Mud's a great leveller, I'm sure she'll bounce back and win the Mudgway again."
McKeon and runner-up Aimee's Idol's rider David Walsh exchanged words back in the jockeys' room.
McKeon felt that on the home bend Walsh had deliberately tried to hold Seachange in a pocket behind the pacemaker Suave Emperor, who was starting to weaken, something Walsh was happy to admit to.
"That's tough, competitive riding - that's what weight-for-age racing is meant to be about," said the vastly experienced Walsh.
Another senior rider, Jim Collett on Bulginbaah, came around both Aimee's Idol and Seachange on the home bend and gave both horses a bit of a tighten up, once again using competitive tactics.
Given she was buffeted by Bulginbaah on her outside and by Seachange having to shoulder her way out on her inside, Aimee's Idol turned in a fabulously tough effort to pick herself up and momentarily looked like edging past Baltaine.
But Baltaine is a tough customer when in front and Cropp was able to keep him going to win by half a length.
The first two home are likely to clash again in the $100,000 Merial Mile at Awapuni next month.
Cropp hadn't previously ridden Baltaine and Rayner gave her only one piece of advice.
"I told her not to move on him until she was absolutely ready to make her move because once you give him a kick he takes off, there's no holding him."
Cropp added a tailpiece to her post-race comments - she wants to be an equestrian competitor at the 2012 Olympics.
"I've got two good years left in me for race riding and then I want to go back to showjumping - that's where I started."
Cropp says she already has the horses she believes can take her to the Olympics.
Cog Hill, still looking a fraction big in condition, did well to finish third. Bulginbaah did okay to finish fourth, but as one of the truly seasoned horses in the race - and last year's winner - he might have been expected to keep going more strongly after looming to the leaders on the home turn.
Floydeboy worked home nicely and rider Reese Jones said Veloce Bella was simply not seasoned enough to cope with the tough conditions.
