KEY POINTS:
Changeover won more than a great race at Alexandra Park last night - he launched a stallion career.
The favourite outstayed Australian hero Lombo Pocket Watch to win the $200,000 Woodlands Northern Derby, with Days Of Courage third ahead of second favourite Gotta Go Cullen.
The win came
courtesy of a stunning drive from David Butcher, who ignored pre-race hype to settle near last with Changeover before sending him forward to secure the treasured one-one with a lap to go.
Even with that charmed run he had to produce something special as Lombo Pocket Watch had the incredible good fortune to get off the markers early and then found the lead easily at the 1400m mark.
On his Australian form that would have made Lombo Pocket Watch unbeatable but last night was the first time he had come up against a horse as good as Changeover, who wore him down in the straight to win in a fast time.
The win continued an often controversial but also amazingly consistent season for Changeover, who has also won the Sires' Stakes Final and Sales Series Pace.
He is now the most successful pacer raced by one of the many syndicates set up by the Auckland Trotting Club to promote harness racing.
That saw nearly 100 people crowd the winners' circle as the ATC syndicate enjoyed their second Derby success, having won it before with Matai MacKenzie.
The most impressive factor about Changeover's career is that he still seems to be developing physically, with his last two starts being the first occasions he has handled his home track perfectly. Now trainer Geoff Small and the syndicate manager Rob Carr have to best decide how to manage Changeover's career to maximise his stallion value.
Being by a sire of In The Pocket out of the same family as one of our greatest ever pacers, Chokin, Changeover has the breeding to be a stallion prospect.
With a string of major wins behind him - and many more still possible - he is one of the most valuable standard breds in Australasia.
"He will head to Addington for the Derby down there and eventually go to Australia because he is eligible for the Breeders Crown," said Small.
"But I am still shaking my head at David's drive.
"He has just got it when he sits in the cart."
Beaten Lombo Pocket Watch earned respect with his second while Gotta Go Cullen never gave up.