KEY POINTS:
If Seachange is invincible in the Mudgway Partsworld Stakes (1400m) at Hastings tomorrow, someone needs to remind Team J'Adane.
While neither co-trainer Russell Cameron or his rider Mark Du Plessis are labelling J'Adane a good thing, there's still an unmistakable air of confidence around the Danehill dark-horse in
the $250,000 group one.
Everything, says Cameron, has fallen into place, right down to the number four barrier for the Pukekohe-based mare, who was rated a $14-shot with TAB bookies yesterday.
While J'Adane may have only one win to her name - against lowly maiden rivals in May this year at Eagle Farm - this is no last-minute plot by a horse making up the numbers.
J'Adane took on Australia's best fillies before anyone here had even heard of her, running sixth to Miss Finland in the group one Caulfield Guineas (1600m), before a group two second to Tuesday Joy in the Wakeful Stakes (2000m) last November.
Cameron brought J'Adane home for the group one Levin Classic (1600m) but an unseasonably wet track brought the raid unstuck and the horse beat just five home.
After winning fresh-up against Brisbane maidens in May, J'Adane then went on a group-placing rampage.
She ran third to Gold Edition in the group three BTC Classic (1350m), second in the group three Dane Ripper Stakes (1400m), a narrow second in the group two Queensland Guineas (1600m) and a close third in the group one Winter Stakes (1400m).
Cameron says her entire Queensland campaign was mapped out with just one thing in mind - qualifying her for an attack on more group-gold in the Hastings Triple Crown.
"Brisbane was the stepping stone to getting the money and the criteria we needed to qualify for these three races (Mudgway, Stoney Bridge Stakes and Kelt Capital Stakes)," said Cameron.
"She's come back a lot bigger and stronger, and she's forward enough to run well.
"You don't go into any of these races underdone."
Cameron gave J'Adane her only public appearance since the Winter Stakes at Eagle Farm in June in a 1000m Cambridge barrier trial on August 14.
On a track she loathed, J'Adane surpassed expectations by running home strongly for second to Altesino.
"She didn't like the track so we only gave her an easy trial, but everything's going forward and to plan. We're right on target," said Cameron.
Du Plessis, recovering from a racefall from Ben Sparta on July 28, watched from the sidelines that day.
But he left the track keener than ever to reunite with a mare he partnered twice in Queensland.
"I'm looking forward to it," said Du Plessis.
"It's all falling into place quite nicely. I know what she's capable of; I just hope we're not going to get much more rain."
Du Plessis is excited, too, about taking full use of the mare's number four marble.
In his only two previous rides on the horse - in the Queensland Guineas and Winter Stakes - he was forced to make use of her from wider alleys.
But in tomorrow's class field he hopes to get a perfect run behind the speed and launch his run at the leaders early in the straight.
"I think the first two legs at Hastings are her best chance, but that's not to say she's not a hope in the Kelt as well with the right run," he said.
With drying weather in Hastings this week expected to bring the surface back to dead, plenty of tickets in the $1 million Pick Six will anchor Seachange for a repeat of her stunning 2006 Mudgway win.
But rival John Wheeler is confident fresh-up three-year-old The Pooka will give her something to chase from his six gate and with just 51kg on his back.
Wheeler admits he was 50-50 about confirming a start until the barrier draw went his way.
He was also less than impressed by the condition of some of his Mudgway rivals at the recent Taupo trials.
"When I saw how a lot of those top horses [Mudgway runners] went at the Taupo trials I started to think more seriously about running him," said Wheeler.
"I think he's up to them and really Seachange is the one to beat."
Seachange's trainer, Ralph Manning, is confident New Zealand's top mare only needs a reasonable track to prove her last-start Foxbridge Plate fifth wrong.
Her work this week has been right up near her best.
"She's improved since Te Rapa and if anything there's still more improvement in her."