KEY POINTS:
Changeover could be just a few weeks away from beating one of the true greats of New Zealand racing - and then he may set his sights on another.
The New Zealand Cup hero returned to winning form courtesy of a perfect drive from David Butcher in the
A$50,000 Bendigo Cup in country Victoria on Saturday night.
Even though he went into the race underdone, Changeover's class enabled him to down some of Australia's best pacers as well as US import Mr Feelgood.
While the win was hardly stunning for a horse of his class, it showed Changeover was heading in the right direction for the A$400,000 Hunter Cup at Moonee Valley on February 7.
He is now as short as $4 to win that race, victory in which would make him New Zealand's richest-ever pacer.
That would mean surpassing his former stablemate Elsu, who was retired just days after Changeover turned two in 2005.
Elsu earned $2,083,352 but with the season after he retired being a poor one for open-class talent Australasian-wide, had he stayed sound he could have easily won over $3 million.
The A$33,750 Changeover won on Saturday night takes his earnings to $1,863,199, although they were actually higher a week ago before he was finally disqualified from the 2006 Sires' Stakes Final at Addington for a caffeine positive.
Whether he wins the Hunter Cup or not he looks certain to become our richest pacer in the next two months, but what path he takes toward that title remains undecided. Changeover is nominated for the $600,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Cup on March 6 but trainer Geoff Small is yet to decide whether to bring him home for the race.
Doing so would mean clashing with Auckland Reactor, whose colours were lowered for the first time by another Small-trained pacer in All Tiger at Cambridge last Friday.
If he returns home for the Alexandra Park classic then Changeover may struggle to get back to Australia for the Gold Coast Interdominions, which start just eight days later.
"I'd like to have him in the Cup here (Auckland) but a lot is going to depend on flights before and after," said Small.
"The main focus is the Hunter Cup and we will make a decision after that."
If Changeover does return to his home track for the Auckland Cup it sets that race up as the strongest in New Zealand this season.
Already it has Auckland Reactor as the big drawcard, along with the only horse to have beaten him in All Tiger, and two horses who have pushed him close in big races: Monkey King and Awesome Armbro.
Add in Gotta Go Cullen, Baileys Dream, Mr Molly and New Zealand Cup fourth placegetter Special Ops and the Auckland Cup, potentially, has a stronger line-up than the New Zealand Cup in November, even though it was worth twice as much.
Fixed odds betting on the Cup and the $600,000 Woodlands Derby to be held the same night, opens this week.
Meanwhile, Auckland Reactor's winning run might have come to an end but the remarkable season of his sire, Mach Three, got better just hours later.
Another of his 4-year-old sons, Mysta Magical Mach, nosed out Divisive to win the A$400,000 West Australian Cup in Perth.
Only an average mid-grade pacer when he left New Zealand as Magical Mach a few months ago, Mysta Magical Mach produced a late burst to down the Miracle Mile winner.
Auckland-owned pacer Power Of Tara finished eighth in the Gloucester Park thriller after being three wide for the last 1400m.
