Vedette’s Good Record In Free-For-All Class

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27410, 24 July 1954, Page 4

Vedette’s Good Record In Free-For-All Class

TROTTING

Vedette, the greatest stake-winner in New Zealand still racing here, is at present in Cambridge with his part-owner, Mr C- Johnston, and if he makes satisfactory progress and shows no signs of soreness he may soon rejoin M. Holmes’s team at Yalahurst. Vedette, which will be a nine-year-old next season, has never been extensively raced, and from 68 starts he has had 18 wins and 35 placings for £26,755 in stakes. Since he won the Grand Final of the Inter-Dominion Championships at Addington in February, 1951, he has not won one handicap race. His earnings in handicap races since then amount to only £515, from four placings. However, he has proved one of the most consistent performers in free-for-all company in the country, and his earnings in these races now stand at £7065, from four wins and 18 placings. After winning the £ 10,000 Grand Final, Vedette was put aside for the remainder of' the season, skid as a six-year-old he had 15 starts tor two wins and nine placings and £3220 in stakes. Three of his placings were in handicap races. They were a third in the Hannon Memorial at Oamaru, and fourths in the Mason Handicap and the Easter Handicap, both at Addington. He won the Hutt

Park Free-for-all from Soangetaha. and beat Young Charles in the New Zealand Pacing Championship. His placings in free-for-alls included a second to Van Dieman in the Forbury Free-for-all, and a third to Maori Home and Johnny Globe in the Ollivier Free-for-all. At seven years he started 16 times and his two wins and nine placings, worth £ 3235 in stakes, were all in free-for-alls. He beat Johnny Globe in the Lightning Free-for-all at Addington in August, and Soangetaha in the Nevt Zealand Free-for-all on the same course in November. His placings included a second to Johnny Globe in the Farewell Free-for-all at Addington in August and a second to Van Dieman in the Ollivier Free-for-all. During the current season he was very sparingly raced because signs of soreness suggested a possible breakdown. He was four times placed in his seven appearances, his only placing in a handicap race being a fourth in «the Hannon Memorial. He was third to Johnny Globe and Adorian in the New Zealand Free-for-all, fourth to Van Dieman, Johnny Globe, and Single Direct in the Ollivier Free-for-all, and second, beaten by a head, to Van Dieman in the New Zealand Pacing Championship. In the latter event he appeared to have the race won until a few strides of the post, when he found Van Dieman’s finishing burst too strong. Vedette is far from being a spent force and if produced at his best again next season he should have little difficulty in paying his way in free-for-all company. Vedette’s record to date is as

For Aogust Holmes has a comparatively small team in work at present, and he will probably have only Dancing Years and Luckylast engaged at Addington next month. Dancing Years raced most

consistently during the current season after joining Holmes’s team, and from his stables he gained four wins and seven placings for £2650 ih stakes. Earlier in the season he had been three times placed in four starts for £265 in stakes.

Dancing Years showed marked improvement during the season, and he had some outstanding efforts to his credit over all distances. He will be a five-year-old next season, and he should go to a tight mark in the next few months for his Oamaru owner, Mr J. W. G. Irving.

’Hie Southland-owned Luckylast gained three wins worth £lOOO from four starts from Holmes’s stables towards the end of this season. The Blaydon mare has a fair measure of ability and she stays well. She may never enter the best class, but she should continue to ; pay her way in the present company she will meet. An addition to Holmes’s team for the current season will be the Springfield Globe gelding, Countermark, which earned £1467 10s from one win and six placings during the current season. Countermark, a rising seven-year-old, has tremendous speed and stamina, but he is rather nervous at the start of his races. If Holmes can get Countermark to race solidly, he should go to a very tight mark before the end of next season. The Dillon Hall mare, Lauder Hall, is back in light work at present. She appears to have recovered from a pelvis injury suffered more than 12 months ago. It may be some time before she is back in solid racing trim. Among a-number of young horses to join Jiolmeg’s team later are a rising three-year-old brother to Vedette, which was purchased at a substantial price by Mr D: McFarlane, of Christchurch, early in the autumn, a rising two-year-old by Canova from Nell Grattan .(the dam of Tactics and Mighty Song), and a rising two-year-old by Globe Direct from County Clare.

follows:Age Starts Wins Plaeings Stakes £ 3 years 1 0 0 0 4 years 18 7 9 4,915 5 years 11 7 4 14,260 6 years 15 2 9 3,535 7 years 16 2 9 3,235 8 years 7 0 4 810 Totals 69 Ts 35 26,755