By MIKE DILLON
Trevor McKee's focus is 2.45pm on Saturday, October 27.
And that ain't about to change.
Not even in the wake of champion Western Australian star Northerly stylishly getting over the top of Sunline to win Saturday's $A200,000 Feehan Stakes at Moonee Valley.
McKee is made of sterner stuff than to concede $A2 million Cox Plate defeat to Northerly, something many Australian's have already done after Northerly's dramatic win.
McKee is far from discouraged.
He views Sunline's performance as excellent and falls back on his line that each race leading up to a Cox Plate is a means to an end.
Worth remembering is that Sunline was beaten fair and square by Fairway in her last start before one of the great weight-for-age performances of all time when she won last year's Cox Plate.
"And don't forget," says McKee, "she was beaten in each of her last three races before she won the 1999 Cox Plate."
It is probably fair to say Sunline did not meet one of Northerly's class in either of her Cox Plate victories.
So how good is Northerly?
His Australian Cup win earlier this year, when be broke 2.00 for the 2000m at Flemington, showed he is exceptional.
Another point is he was clearly a lot fitter than his astute trainer Fred Kersly was making out when the horse was less than impressive in mid-week training.
He had to be. No horse can run past Sunline only half fit, even when Sunline is short of her best.
Buoying McKee is the knowledge that Sunline still has a fair way to go to full fitness.
So much so that he is considering giving her two more runs, rather than one, before the Cox Plate.
It was clear on Saturday she was knocking up badly in the closing stages.
Northerly was three lengths away and flat on the home bend.
He was 100-1 and drifting.
"I knew my only hope on the corner was for Sunline to run out of condition and come back to us," said winning rider Damien Oliver yesterday.
The last 30m told a story. The fact Northerly looked like he was sprinting past Sunline, rather than working past her, was clearly because the mare was stopping.
And the tactics of several of the opposition, designed to apply maximum pressure to Sunline, did not help the cause.
"It's an annoying factor when they go so hard early to head her off then stop so quickly a long way out from home," said McKee.
"Those two horses that led and sat outside her in running stopped so quickly they ran last and second last. That's not the first time that's happened."
McKee is not disappointed Sunline trailed rather than led - it was his preferred option - but he would have loved to see the leader continue on to the home turn.
"When that horse in front started to feel the pinch at the 800m, Greg had cut loose on the mare instead of waiting until past the 600m. When they use those tactics against you and collapse that far out they leave you a sitting duck.
"Another important factor is that only one horse on the day won after leading round the home turn."
McKee is delighted with the way Sunline has come through what looked to be a terrifically hard race.
"She's fine today," he said yesterday before flying back to Auckland.
He will use Sunline's progress this week as the major influence on where she races next.
The options are the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield next Sunday then either the Turnbull Stakes on October 6 or the Yalumba Stakes on October 13.
"If we decide she needs two races it will probably be the Underwood and one of the other two."
With Sunline v Northerly and the likely Northern Hemisphere challenge of Caitano and Silvano, the Cox Plate will live up to its mantle of one of the world's great races.
At this point Trevor McKee is a long way from panic.
Racing: No panic as Northerly chills sun
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