There was no visual evidence of that on the camera available - the rear-on camera vision being unavailable - and it appeared as though Zah Tart and Lee Magorrian had done the damage unassisted.
Katie's Cove received another check approaching the home turn and did remarkably well to get within a neck of the winner. She should have won by lengths.
James said he had been keen to get the Zabeel filly to the Eight Carat Classic.
"It hurts, that sort of thing [interference], when you're trying to get to a race like the Eight Carat.
"I'm not sure what to do now because I was very keen to win a race with her. Not many maidens win races like the Eight Carat."
Bounding and Costa Viva are currently the benchmark fillies for the Eight Carat (1600m), and the 2000m Royal Stakes a week later.
Bounding was given a break after her luckless second to Costa Viva in the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton, and trainers Bev and Ken Kelso freely nominated the classy filly at various distances over the holidays.
"We weren't sure how long we'd have to give her out," said Ken Kelso.
"If she needed a decent break we'd have brought her back to 1200m, which is why we put her in the Railway.
"But she's bounced back well with two easy weeks. She looks fabulous and she can resume work tomorrow, and then we'll look at an easy barrier trial at Te Aroha on the 17th."
Chipping at the heels of those fillies will be Lucia Valentina, dashing winner of Friday's Wellington 3YO Stakes at Otaki.
The Savabeel filly will have only the Eight Carat and Royal Stakes for Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh before being transferred to Australian trainer Chris Lees.
"She was always going to Australia," said Marsh yesterday. "In fact, she was originally not going to race here at all, but then it was decided to give her a couple of starts here.
"I'd love to be able to keep her until the Oaks here and try for the group one, but the Oaks in Sydney is A$1 million this time, so that's the sensible way to go."
Marsh's headlining filly Ruud Awakening is recovering well from an operation to remove a small bone chip in a fetlock, which was detected when she completed her Melbourne campaign.
"Very little went right for her over there, but a couple of her runs were excellent," said Marsh.
Ruud Awakening will be spelled for 10 weeks with a view to her resuming racing in late autumn.
"She should come back better than she's ever been."
A 7-year-old mum-to-be, who made a career of chasing, goes out early thanks to her jockey's vision and proceeds to hang on to win the Wanganui Jockey Club's feature race of 2013 - it was the stuff of fairy tales at the racecourse on Saturday afternoon.
The running of the $50,000 Cambridge Thoroughbred Lodge Civics Wanganui Cup defied most expectations as mare Sacha sat at the front of the pack and then shot to the lead with over half the 2040m remaining, hanging on with a gallant dash back up the straight to win by a head from the powerful finishing Delecta Dreims.
Back In Black got up for third place two lengths back.
It was a solid 2:09.97 time, given the rainy conditions.
The punters collected a tidy $9.90 at the tote.
A stable favourite of Awapuni trainer Lisa Latta and her staff, the Cup victory could be a great swansong for Sacha, who is 30 days in foal.
- additional reporting APN
