Michael Walker has been staggered a few times in his career, never as much as by the win of Gee I Jane at Avondale yesterday.
The massively underrated Cambridge mare's win in the $60,000 Matua Valley Wines Concorde simply should not have happened.
She had had only five career starts,
had won only two races and was up against horses that had won nearly $300,000 to her $14,875.
And it was no fluke. Gee I Jane blew apart some of the country's best sprinters.
She ran past the favourite Vaalu so quickly and got so far clear, Vaalu's experienced trainer Jim Gibbs was flabbergasted.
"And she should have won by more," said an equally staggered Walker.
The 1200m time was a lightning 1.8.32.
"When the others were charging she was wanting to get off the track and get away from the other horses," said Walker.
He could not come to terms with the sheer acceleration.
Trainer Neville Couchman, although doubtless shaking his head a little, has known for some time how good the Jahafil mare is.
What he was quickly trying to calculate, even before Gee I Janes returned to the weigh-in, was whether the mare would get a start in the country's premier group one sprint, the Railway at Ellerslie on January 1.
"She should get in after that, shouldn't she?
She will be an attraction in any field.
You have to get your head around a horse winning the Railway at her career No 7 start, but if you ignore that and watch the video of yesterday's race, you know it's possible.
"She's going to win some nice races somewhere over the carnivals," said Walker.
Cameron Lammas on Vaalu, said the winner came past his horse far too quickly to allow any chance of a fightback.
"One minute we were travelling beautifully, the next minute I blinked and the winner was gone."
Pay My Bail, Gwen's Rules, Justee and Golden Harvest all had some part in a speed duel up front, which set up the race for a horse like Gee I Jane.
