KEY POINTS:
Even if Seachange finishes her season with a leg rope on her, Dick Karreman is going to have a huge time with Diamond Deck, remarkable winner of Saturday's $75,000 Highview Stud Stakes.
If Diamond Deck could beat Saturday's talented field at 1200m, none of those that finished behind
her - bad luck aside - will ever beat her again.
The filly with the remarkable stretch in her stride gave them all a start on Saturday and ran past them with ease.
It was a galloping lesson and, make no mistake, those were class fillies behind her.
When Diamond Deck gets to 1600m and beyond, well, good luck to the rest.
The danger to her on what we've seen of the fillies so far this season will be Insouciant.
Whereas Diamond Deck gained her stripes running at the Queensland winter carnival, Insouciant had raced only once for a runaway Taupo maiden win.
She showed her lack of ringcraft on Saturday, refusing to run straight in the closing 300m and did extremely well to finish only 3.3 lengths from Diamond Deck after giving Michael Walker a tough time.
Royal Taat looked good running into third and there was some excuse for Satinka (fifth), who was taken on in front.
The filly that did that was Special Mission, who showed plenty of heart to hang on to second.
* Mandela and Magic Cape made their way into the $2 million Kelt Capital field with their 1-2 result in the $70,000 Jim & John Evans Classic at Pukekohe on Saturday.
Mandela is a better handicapper than a weight-for-age horse as he showed when he ran away with last spring's Geelong Cup, but he looked magnificent, giving Magic Cape 5.5kg and grabbing him late.
His camp, guided by trainers Richard Yuill and Steven Goodin, decided to pay the $15,000 late entry when the possibility of getting to Australia for the A$5 million Melbourne Cup became clouded by the EI virus scare.
Trainer Shaune Ritchie expects a lot of improvement out of Magic Cape from the race.
"He got on the toe in the parade ring, which is not like him, and I thought, maybe you're not quite as forward as I thought you were.
"It was a good ride by Patrick (Holmes) and as a result the horse probably got to the front just a touch early."
Wonderful effort by both horses. When Mandela came alongside Magic Cape, the latter found another gear and put a further two lengths on the chasers, but his condition gave out and he couldn't quite keep out Mandela, whose fight under 58kg was huge.
They were clearly superior and the third horse, Mohican Brave, was nearly three lengths away.
There were a few improvers and Everswindell looked good running fourth.
* A sale to Hong Kong still hangs over El Cuento, beaten half a head by Russian Conquest in the Curraghmore Stud Premier at Hastings.
Which will make a difference to the Hawkes Bay Guineas on Kelt day.
El Cuento gave Russian Conquest 3.5kg on Saturday, meets him on level weights in the Hawkes Bay Guineas and will be improved by the race, his first since the autumn.
And it was only the bob of the head that decided Saturday's race.
El Cuento is a quality 3-year-old who has toughness on his side.
D'Elcatraz was extremely disappointing, racing well, below his best to finish 6.5 lengths behind the winner.
* She's not big, but on her day Bonaichi is classy.
She once again showed what a talented little mare she is when she overpowered her opposition on Saturday.
Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott will have a lot of fun with her through the spring and summer.
As will Lance Noble with Irlanda.
Noble was patient with the mare as a 3-year-old last season and should reap the reward for that.
Lovely ride by Michael Coleman and the well-backed Irlanda was too strong in the closing stages.
Joint favourite Kay's Awake got back off the speed and faced a task too tough to pick up the winner coming out of a trail behind the leader.
She finished bravely though and is on target for a big spring.
Zerello, resuming, is the improver, she led and even when her condition gave out she didn't give it away finishing fifth after having her legs taken out from under her near the finish.