Yet for all the proven talent of Two Illicit, who headlines the Captain Cook Stakes, it is Cheaperthandivorce who James doesn't hesitate to label his best chance.
"Her work on Tuesday was as good as you could hope for from a staying mare," James told the Herald.
"She is really in a good place and the field looks weaker than what she raced last start."
That was when Cheaperthandivorce hit the lead at the 200m in the Counties Cup on this track three weeks ago only to be run down by the David Greene-trained pair of Justamaiz and Judy's Song.
With that pair absent along with several of the other big names from the Counties Cup, Cheaperthandivorce goes up 4.5kgs on her 53kgs weight that day, which sounds like an enormous disadvantage until you take into account she meets tomorrow's topweight Robusto with the same 1.5kgs advantage.
"It is a lot of weight to go up but that is indicative of the overall class of her opposition I suppose and she has really come on with that last start," says James.
"So these races are never easy to win but she is our best chance of the mares in the big black type races."
Cheaperthandivorce and Two Illicit are more or less owned by the same connections and you can bet they would swap a Skycity Waikato Cup win for Two Illicit being successful in the group one mile to enormously embellish her broodmare career.
James says the trip to Trentham last Saturday hasn't harmed Two Illicit but the redrawn field has.
"Last week she had a good draw in a big room track whereas now she has the widest draw on a tighter track and the tempo of the race becomes far more crucial to us," he explains.
"I hope for a strong tempo, which I like in any race because I think it allows the best horse to win and if we get that we might be all right.
"But it is a good field so it won't be easy giving them a start."James's fears with Two Illicit are reasoned as any one of Aegon, Royal Performer, Demonetization, Prise De Fer and even a few others could get a cosy trip near the speed and whiz their last 600m in 33 seconds making life very uncomfortable for the chasers.
While Two Illicit seeks group one status Concert Hall already has it and she is heading to defend that title she won in the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day so tomorrow's Cal Isuzu, while a top race in its own right, isn't her grand final.
"We are very happy with her and she was great running second here last time but her aim all campaign has been the Zabeel and this is a stepping stone toward that," says James.
"She will go well but I think Showoroses will be very hard to beat with a good draw and the chance she can lead in a race without much pressure."
James and Wellwood have other winning chances on Te Rapa's mega day with Deep Beauty and Assertive Nature both smart horses who can win race six while they have last-start winning fillies Achieve and Avalene in the group three Eulogy at Awapuni.
"We have a good team of three-year-old fillies and could have sent more down but the track was heavy midweek and we didn't want to risk it.
"But we don't know these two won't handle it so they might have find out in a black type race just in case they do."
