TROTTING SURPRISE WINNER SOLD CHEAPLY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31094, 24 June 1966, Page 5

TROTTING SURPRISE WINNER SOLD CHEAPLY

A little more than five years ago anyone wanting to buy the pacer, Massacre, after his surprise win in the Inter-Dominion Championship Grand Final at Addington Raceway, would have had to offer a substantial four-figure price.

Recently he changed hands at a fairly low price and left Christchurch last evening on his way to the United States, where he will race from F. Gerry’s New York stables.

Massacre was only a four-year-old and the most looselyassessed horse in the field when on February 18, 1961, he beat False Step by a nose in the £lO,OOO Inter-Dominion Championship Grand Final to cause one of the biggest surprises of the season. Massacre was driven throughout the series by D. C. Watts. After that win it was generally accepted that he would graduate to New Zealand Cup class quickly. However, his racing manners deteriorated so much that he came close to being recommended for the schooling list. Also, he was troubled by unsoundness. After his major win, Massacre. had 88 starts for four wins and 20 placings, worth £4lBO in stakes. For all but one of those wins he was trained by D. J. Campbell, who raced him on lease in partnership with Mr A. Wilson, of Ashburton. For his other win he was prepared by C. C. Devine. A nine-year-old gelding by Whipster from Terrace Lass, Massacre was bred at Tinwald by Mr T. E. Prendergast. He had several changes of trainer in the last 18 months, but for none of them would he race kindly. He had only two starts this season and failed to impress. As well as Massacre, Siki, Sir Hugh and Carina Star went north last evening on the first stage of their trip to join Gerry’s team. Siki and Carina Star failed to show any form this season, but Sir Hugh was a winner at Gore in December. He was purchased recently by Mr I. Langford, of Oxford, who has now resold him.

Big Catalogue

What began as a small dispersal sale of horses owned by Mr L. H. Broom, of Methven, has developed into a major sale as a result of supplementary entries. The auctioneers have more than 40 horses to offer at auction at Ashburton on July 1.

Seven Wins

G. A. Reaks, who is associated with J. K. Hughes’s team at Pukekohe, is the leading probationary driver of the season with seven wins. Only eight probationary drivers had three or more wins during the season. L. M. Keenan finished second with five wins, followed by E. T. Byrne, P. C. Lee, jun., A W. Scobie and P. C. Yeatman, with four wins, and W. Baker and R. Mitchell, jun., with three wins.

Kurow Meeting

The Kurow Trotting Club will have an early start next season. It plans to hold its annual meeting at Oamaru on August 13. The main race will be the Kurow Cup, of £6OO, with a limit of 2min 16sec There will be a grogramme of nine races, including an event for three and four-year-olds in which non-winners may start. There has been some criticism of the Kurow de-

cision to race in August on the ground that there may not be sufficient slow-class horses in work. However, trainers

have had plenty of warning and it is unlikely that the club will have any difficulty securiing reasonable fields.