VODKA TO RESUME RACING IN AUGUST

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 5

VODKA TO RESUME RACING IN AUGUST

TROTTING

Vodka, winner of £5170 this season —the greatest amount won during the period by a trotter—is in steady work with N. K. McKenzie, private trainer for Mr J. S. Shaw. Mr Shaw has returned from a trip to the United States, where he bought several stallions for New Zealand studmasters. Vodka has progressed well lately, and he will be on hand for the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club’s meeting next month. Vodka had to miss the Easter meeting at Addington after suffering lead poisoning early in the autumn. He has made a complete recovery, and next season he should again race very profitably. A rising seven-year-old gelding. Vodka is young as trotters go, and it is certain that the best has yet to be seen of him.

Great credit is reflected on his , trainer and his , owner-driver by the • way in which Vodka has gained confidence. In his -early racing in the South Island he showed phenomenal speed, but marred a number of winning prospects through his inability to keep up with his field over the first half-mile of his races. With every run this season he began more smoothly, until at his two most recent winning performances he lost very little ground at the start Vodka has brilliant speed and tremendous stamina. He is rapidly becoming one of the most tightly-assessed horses of his gait, and his connexions may be forced to race him against the pacers before long. His efforts this season suggest that he would not be out of his depth. During the season Vodka raced most consistently for four wins and six placings from 12 starts. His wins were the Dominion, Fergusson, and Holmes Handicaps at Addington, and the Bridgens Memorial Gold Cup at Auckland. He established two New Zealand records over one mile and five furlongs. He has a winning record of 3min 27 sec, and he was placed in 3min 26 2-ssec.

By Logan Derby from Cyone Girl, Vodka did his early racing for Mr

W. Hosking, of Waiuku, for whom he was trained by J. K. Hughes. He was originally raced as a pacer, but was then converted to the trotting gait. He showed considerable ability in the North Island as a three-year-old, and late in the next season he was given to Mr Shaw, who has driven him in his important wins. Vodka has shown some outstanding times for one mile in his races at Addingon, and it is to be hoped that next season Mr Shaw will be given the opportunity of sending him against the 20-year-old mile trotters’ record of 2min 3 3-ssec, established by Worthy Queen, which was trained and driven by him. In favourable conditions Vodka would have little difficulty in breaking that record, and he should go close to being the first trotter to record two minutes in New Zealand. Fabius in Work

Fabius, which as trained by McKenzie, has not raced since December, 1951, because of soreness. He has made a good recovery, and is revelling in the light tasks allotted him. He is a rising six-year-old now, and will probably resume racing early in the new season.

Fabius, which numbered the North Island Challenge Stakes and the Great Northern Derby Stakes among his successes, was formerly trained by C. H. Fairman.. He is a good type of pacer. If he returns to his best, he may soon show form again.*

By Logan Derby, the sire of Vodka, he is out of Repose, a Jack Potts mare from the Hal Zorock mare, The Shrew. The Shrew was a useful winner, and was also the dam of Shrewdy and Captain Potts.

The third member of McKenzie’s team is the rising three-year-old, Johnny Ray, which is trained by Mr Hosking. He recorded a third and a fourth placing from four starts from Hughes’s stables this season. He finished third to Happy Jack and Bardora in a division of the Great North-

ern Stakes, and fourth to Dalise, Scottish §ong, and Topaz in a race for maiden pacers at Hutt Park in May. The latter effort stamped him as a youngster of more than average ability. . Johnny Ray is a gelding by Übakim from Cry Baby. Next season he should add interest to races for three-year*-olds in Canterbury. From Coral Princess

Imelda May, the winner of three races in New South Wales this season.

has impressed Australian critics who expect 'her to develop more than useful form next term. Imelda Mays breeding is of interest to New Zealanders. She is a three-year-old by the champion Highland Fling, from Coral a mare by Pacing Power, which showed considerable ability in her racing in New Zealand when owned by Mr A. H. Todd, of Rakaia. Coral Princess, which took a mile and a half record of 3min 14 4-ssec, was a half-sister to Free Bond, Summer Sky (the dam of Archaic and Make Way), First Globe, and Supreme Globe. Golden Slipper Stakes

Keen interest is being shown by breeders all over JJew Zealand in the I proposed New Zealand Golden Slip[per Stakes, which will be run by the Waimate Trotting Club in the 1956-57 season. Although entries of brood mares do not close until the end of this month, the club has already received about 20 nominations, including nine from an Auckland stud. The secretary of the Waimate club (Mr M. J. Leonard) said yesterday that he had received requests for entry forms from all over the country, and he was more than satisfied with the response so far. By the end of the month, he expected that there would be a very large entry.