RACING STANDOUT Ist LEG CHOICE TOMORROW

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30976, 4 February 1966, Page 4

RACING STANDOUT Ist LEG CHOICE TOMORROW

Captain’s Command Sprint Fancy

Standout and Captain’s Command are selected to win the T.A.B. double on the first day of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s summer meeting at Riccarton tomorrow.

Standout is in the £l5OO Midsummer Handicap, and the Wingatui three-year-old Captain’s Command will run against the sprinters in the £lOOO Craven Plate, seven furlongs.

Standout, a five-year-old, raced by his Riccarton trainer, J. C. Tompkinson, comes to his best form when the tracks are firm.

Unlucky

Golden Vanity, a highweight winner at Washdyke,

His first win for the season did not look far distant when he finished brilliantly for second in the Hororata Cup, run over a miie and a quarter at Riccarton on December 11 Then he ran third behind Royal Bid and Cassarook over a mile and a half in the Dunedin Cup on December 28. Though the Dunedin Cup was run at a false pace. Royal Bid and Cassarook showed there was nothing wrong with the class in their campaigns at Trentham.

Both were placed in strong fields—Cassarook was third in the Summer Handicap, and Royal Bid a meritorious fourth tn the Wellington Cup. Standout’s Midsummer Handicap weight is 7.9, and he will receive weight from Chatsgay (8.3) and General Gilbert (7.12). Hat-Trick

Chatsgay did his holiday racing against weaker opposition than Standout but there was undeniable merit tn his hat-trick extending over the main middle distance races at Washdyke. Oamaru, and Kurow. General Gilbert came to his best form early last month, and recorded two wins and a second on the KumaraReefton circuit He finished first to all three races only to lose one, at Reefton, on a protest

General Gilbert came through some concentrated campaigning pretty well. Few of the local horses in this field have worked more attractively than he has done lately.

G. F. Hughes will ride General Gilbert, which shows his best form on top of the ground.

and an unlucky third behind Chatsgay at Oamaru, has thrived in the meantime, and if she settles early she should run out a mile and a quarter better than most. Red Siren and Baa! Hanan provide the southern interest, and with wins close up on their records they stand good chances of improving strong stable records. Red Siren, a winner against the sprinters at the Southland meeting, and an unlucky third at the Vincent meeting, is from the powerful E. A. Winsloe stable. Baal Hanan, a winner at Vincent, is a stablemate of Court Belle. He lacks Court Belle’s class, but he has been a useful winner for R. J. Cochrane’s stable.

Early Dawn is a newcomer to open class. He looked good in much of his hack racing and some indifferent gallops are not believed to be an accurate guide to his ability or fitness.

Misjudge, like Early Dawn, won at his last start in hacks He ran out 11 furlongs strongly for victory against the staying hacks at the Dunedin Cup meeting on Decern ber 28 In the meantime he has thrived and has shaped well in training at Riccarton. where he is trained by R Preece. Form To Respect It will be surprising if the Dunedin Jockey Club’s Publicans’ Handicap, run over seven furlongs at Wingatui in December, does not prove of some value for the Craven Plate, run over the same distance tomorrow. Warfare, Hushaway, Captain’s Command, and Bellarook, the first four in the Wingatui race, will meet again. Warfare is up 81b to 9-4 on the weight she carried for her neck victory over Hushaway (7-10). Captain’s Command carried 7-6 into third place half a head back, and Bellarook was fourth under 8-11. In the meantime Bellarook has won two open sprints in Southland and Captain's

Command has won the Southland Guineas.

This time Captain's Command will meet Bellarok on 21b better terms than he did in the Dunedin race, and he could beat the Gore gelding on the higher scale of weights. Captain’s Command has won three races this season. The first one was an open sprint at the Otago Hunt Club’s meeting. Then he won the John Grigg Stakes at Ashburton before running last of four in the Dunedin Guineas in conditions against him. Guineas Third

On a firm track in the Wellington Guineas he was third close behind Devastation and Farmer’s Boy. He failed when tried for stamina in the New Zealand Derby, but on his form before and since that classic he should be good up to a miie at least.

Hushaway has raced only once since the Dunedin meeting. He was fifth in the Januar, Handicap at this only start at the Wellington Cup meeting. This Count Rendered gelding runs his races out strongly, and one of his characteristic finishes carried him within inches of victory —Castle Flight beat him—in the Members’ Handicap, seven furlongs at the New Zealand Cup meeting. Castle Flight made that form look good when he won the James Hazlett Gold Cup beating Palisade at his next start.

He did not make an impression in his two races at Trentham, but his Riccarton record commands respect, and he looks fit for tomorrow’s test.

Castle Flight won both open sprints at the C.J.C. summer meeting last year. Other form horses in the strongest field of the day are Rae’s Hope, Carester, and Vivien Robe. But their form was shown in weaker fields than this one.

Dark Seaman, a good fourth in the Members’ Handicap at the New Zealand Cup meeting, should be the best of those below 8-0 if he runs close to his best form.