RACING CHALLENGE STAKES AT RICCARTON

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28261, 26 April 1957, Page 4

RACING CHALLENGE STAKES AT RICCARTON

Mighty Dollar Picked To Win

Mighty Dollar and Royal Zorra are expected to dominate the finish of the 65th Challenge Stakes, one of the attractions on the programme for the third and final day of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s autumn meeting at Riccarton tomorrow. Tney will be opposed by some well-performed gallopers, and three successful two-year-olds, but their class should bring them to the fore at the end of seven furlongs. Mighty Dollar is on 9-1 with the Great Easter Handicap second. Hot Drop, and Royal Zorra has 9-8. Royal Zorra gallantly carried 9-7 into fourth place in the Great Easter after being galloped on, and the result could have been altogether different if she had dodged trouble.

Mighty Dollar was 41b below her in the Great Easter, in which he finished fifth, making up a lot of ground for that place.

At the weights, Mighty Dollar and Royal Zorra, are expected to hold Hot Drop, but they may be put to the test by the two-year-olds, William Paul and Imitation.

Shahwan won the Challenge Stakes as a two-year-old last year, but the class of the older horses in that field was not as strong as it is this year. Tannin won as a four-year-old in 1955, the five-year-old Silence was the 1954 winner, and Royal Voyage and Impress, were winners as three-year-olds in 1952 and 1953.

Royal Voyage, which also won the Challenge Stakes as a two-year-old, was prepared for his two wins by A. E. L. McMullan, whose colours will be carried by Imitation tomorrow. Imitation was third in the Champagne Stakes last Monday, two lengths behind the runner-up, William Paul, which ran Mindanao to a nose. William Paul was a stronger finisher than Imitation and he may again be the Trentham colt’s master over seven furlongs. W. D. Skelton will ride William Paul, and Imitation is B. W. McDonald’s mount Fuel, winner of the Templeton Handicap on Tuesday, has an alternative engagement in the Waltham Handicap, the second leg of the double. If she drops out of the Challenge Stakes, the Riccarton jockey, C. McDonald, will ride Royal Zorra. Form in the distance races on the first and second days of the meeting may not prove of value as a guide to the Sockbum Handicap, the first leg of the double. Newcomers Finito and Rhythmonic are two well-performed newcomers at the meeting, and they may be a match for the best which raced on the first and second days. Finito won the Queen Elizabeth Handicap, 11 furlongs, on the first day of the Wairarapa meeting last Saturday, and the luck of the race was against him when he failed to reach a place on the second day of the meeting. His form earlier in the autumn compared more than favourably with that of Gand. Bank, winner of the Great Autumn Handicap on Monday. He was third to Command Performer and Field Chief in the Autumn Handicap, two miles, on the first day of the Wellington autumn meeting, and fourth behind Pinnacle Ridge, The Wake, and Grand Bank in the President’s Handicap, one mile and a half, on the second day. Both Grand Bank and Finito carried 7-3. The difference in weights tomorrow is only one pound in Grand Bank’s favour, so there is little to choose between the North Island stayers on that count. Uncertain Starter Tess, winner of the Great Easter and Dominion Handicaps, and top weight in the Sockburn Handicap with flst, is not a certain starter. Unless the track dries considerably, Shoal may beat Writer at level weights. Shoal beat all but Tess in the Dominion Handicap, and finished strongly for her placing, but Writer was not at ease in the going in the Great Autumn

Handicap, though he made ground for seventh. The class will trouble Demand, but Jungle, Rhythmonic, and Humber Hawk should measure up to it. Jungle finished boldly for his third in the Great Autumn Handicap, in which he carried 8-IJ. Rhythmonic easily made the step from hack class to open company in the Riverton Cup last Saturday, running out 10? furlongs strongly to beat Canon, which has made his mark in metropolitan company on soft tracks. A winning performance by a three-year-old at a mile and a half in this company will call for exceptional effort, but Rhythmonic appears to have the qualities to meet those demands. Humber Hawk was fourth close up in the Great Autumn Handicap, and ran another good race against the milers on Tuesday, finishing sixth. Fresh Form Nairn Bridge and Ben Ledi, both winners at Riverton, will put fresh interest into the Waltham Handicap, the second leg of the double. Nairn Bridge was twice successful against the milers, and rounded off a solid campaign with a close second to Cashmere on the second day of the meeting. Nairn Bridge has done most of his racing in weaker fields than this one, but he has campaigned consistently and has done well on soft tracks. • Unless her two races earlier at the meeting have taken their toll, Fuel will take beating. She was never within challenging range of Juventas in the Warstep Stakes, but the run of the race went against her and she had to give ground just when Juventas was putting a break on the field. So her second was creditable, and her win in the Templeton Handicap a day later was well earned. Fair Summer and Motueka, the minor place-getters behind Fuel in the Templeton Handicap, should race just as well at seven furlongs. Conditions will be little different, and they apparently suit these two sprinters: A drying track would bring Skylight and Rise and Shine strongly into favour. Both dropped out of the Great Easter Handicap because of the track conditions. Versatile Ben Ledi is more versatile, and was placed at Trentham last season on a very heavy track. His form fell away after that, and he was in the early stages of another campaign when he won over six furlongs at Riverton on Monday, and, quite likely, is an improver. Palace, fourth after pacemaking in the Templeton Handicap on Tuesday, may be one of the best of the others, though, like some of the others in this field, he would probably be better on a firm track. 112 a.m.—Peerswick Hurdles: Native King, Sir Gerald, Brown Baron. 11.42 a.m.—Sixty-fifth Challenge Stakes: Mighty Dollar, Royal Zorra, William Paul. 1221 p.m.—Yaldhurst Handicap: Sir Edwin, Arcti&xSun, Amulette. 1.12 p.m.—Sockburn Handicap: Rhythmonic, Jungle, Finito. 1.57 p.m.—Richmond Handicap: Sharp, Sarcelle, Black Star-All Fair bracket. 2.42 p.m.—Merivale Handicap: Fleur - Masai - Steadfast bracket, Maracaibo, Neptune’s Pride. 3.27 p.m.—-Waltham Handicap: Fuel, if scr Ben Ledi, Motueka, Fair Summer. 4.12 p.m.—Gimcrack Handicap: Great Sensation, Cheyenne, Serang.