KEY POINTS:
Gee I Jane will be ridden by Grant Cooksley in Wednesday's $100,000 Concorde at Avondale.
The 58kg clear topweight looks a sizeable task for a mare, but trainer Neville Couchman is not complaining.
"She's earned the weight and there's no point moaning about it."
The Cambridge trainer was
very disappointed Gee I Jane did not receive an invitation to the upcoming Hong Kong Sprint.
A clear influencing factor for the Hong Kong Jockey Club in coming to that decision was Gee I Jane's unplaced performance behind Dance Hero on Derby Day at Flemington when she was badly hampered along the inside running rail after drawing barrier No 1 in the straight 1200m gallop.
Couchman gave thought to waiting for New Zealand's biggest sprint, the Railway at Ellerslie in four weeks, but felt the mare had already spent enough time sidelined with only the one race since finishing second to La Montagna and La Sizeranne in Queensland in June.
"We waited in Australia for the Hong Kong invite and the end result was she was sitting in Melbourne all dressed up and nowhere to go.
"It's her last season on the tracks. I was going to trial her here at Cambridge, but she may as well go around for some stakemoney."
Couchman is delighted with the No 2 barrier draw this time.
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Stephen McKee has too many owners in Trudy Tee to know yet where Saturday's Ellerslie winner is heading.
It's an important decision.
McKee has a preference for keeping the talented filly to 1600m for the $100,000 Eight Carat Classic on Boxing Day, but feels the ownership syndicate may vote to chase the second leg of the $100,000 3-year-old bonus over 2100m in the New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Triple Crown Cup at Ellerslie on December 17.
"I think 1600m is as far as she wants to run at the moment," said McKee yesterday.
The way Trudy Tee won on Saturday strengthens McKee's stance.
McKee advised stewards pre-race that his instructions to rider Grant Cooksley were to restrain the usually free-running Trudy Tee.
But the filly had other ideas and charged to the lead.
That she got away with a soft lead is evidenced by the pedestrian 1600m time of 1.39.18.
Similar go-forward would be difficult to sustain over 2100m, but McKee believes the filly will settle better in a race that has more natural speed engaged than was the case on Saturday.
Trudy Tee was strongly pressed late by the favourite Post Thyme, who turned in a superlative performance to come from last on the home turn.
Post Thyme looked to race a touch greenly when Lisa Cropp first set her alight and looks the real improver among the 3-year-olds.
Cropp had better luck with Power Cut, who sustained a long run at the leaders to win over 2100m. He looks a stayer of real promise.
Speedalot, Young Centaur, Chilmalis, Tatlock, Montecristo, Loaded Command, Cadillac and Blink are others to be followed from Saturday's meeting.
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Congratulations to Te Aroha trainer Mark Donoughue and his owners Grant McLeod and Lisa Anderson.
Four individual runners for four wins in seven days is close enough to impossible to achieve.
The best point is that their pair of winners on Saturday, Loaded Command and Blink, look a long way from the end of their run this preparation. Both won with authority.