FROM STUD AND STABLE Successful Canterbury Raids From The South

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31117, 21 July 1966, Page 4

FROM STUD AND STABLE Successful Canterbury Raids From The South

Provincial clubs in Canterbury owe much to the support of owners and trainers from Otago and Southland. The numerous successes that fall to the southerners only reflect the generous proportion of southern runners in the fields, especially in jumping races.

A feature of the winter racing in Canterbury so far this season has been the winning “trot” enjoyed by the J. S. McKay stable from near Wingatui. Jumpers from this stable are invariably well schooled, and their average of wins to starts in Canterbury races over the last few years has been very high. Average Material Stan McKay seldom has rich material to work on in shaping a jumping career for members of his team. The majority of his horses have been pretty average, or worse, on the flat, which limits the chances of producing potential Grand National winners in these days of speed and more speed. But by careful placing, and selection of races, members of the McKay team have kept coming up week by week to fashion a formidable string of wins. Primrose Lane’s win at the Waimate Hunt meeting on Monday was one of seven for the McKay stable since the Canterbury winter circuit started at Ashburton on June 25. i Sir Athol gave the stable

a successful start that day with a win against the hurdlers at Ashburton. He won over hurdles again at Washdyke on July 9 and switched to the flat with another easy win at the Waimate Hunt meeting this week. Linred was an impressive double winner in the McKay colours at the South Canterbury winter meeting, and Skinfull was another winner at Washdyke. Won At Riccarton Earlier in the year Startler won the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Peerswick Hurdles at Riccarton, and has since supplemented his earnings with minor placings. Winners for the McKay stable on Canterbury courses last season Included Royal Burgh (John Grigg Stakes), Dark Jester, Linred, and Lord Fair. Dark Jester won the Studholme Steeplechase at Waimate in May of last year. In 1963 and again in 1964 this Timanova gelding won the Alford Steeplechase at Ashburton. The Dromore Steeples, the other cross-country event at Ashburton in 1963, fell to another McKay-trained runner, Sea Buoy. Linred, probably the star of the McKay team at present, won two races for the stable last winter, the Rattray Steeples at Waimate and the Westenra Hunt Cup at Riccarton. Those wins yielded only £205, which illustrates the burden carried in the South Island by the dedicated band of sportsmen who are doing something tangible in the hope of seeing jumping prosper. The Defence Tribe Winning runs by the Taranaki stablemates Master Defence and Main Defence at Trentham last Saturday—Master Defence lost first place in the open sprint after an in-quiry-focussed attention on their sire Defence.

There is a long list of failures of second generation New Zealand-bred sires, but Defence does not belong to it. Stakes earned by his stock total £27,761. He is siring hardy, long-wearing racehorses, and notable amongst them the mare Waitaha, winner of 21 races and still racing at the age of 11; Smokey Bay, winner of 15 races and still racing at 10; Supreme Courage, seven wins, and an open class performer; and of course Master Defence, and Main Defence. Defence raced only at two and three years, but reached open company and finished with four wins. He was raced by Mr G. H. Baylis and trained at Ilawera by H. H. Mills. Pleading, the sire of Defence, was owned and trained in Canterbury. Locally Trained For Mr G. R. Macdonald this Solicitor General colt won five races at three years from the Cutts stable at Riccarton. One of his two wins at Riccarton in 1941 was in the Middle Park Plate with 10-0. He was ridden by C. T. Wilson, who is still race riding. Mr Macdonald bred Pleading from Eulalie, which he bought from the estate of G. D. Greenwood. Eulalie, a daughter of Absurd and the great Eulogy, won the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Champagne Stakes and the Auckland Criterion Handicap at two .years. In her next and final season of racing, she won the Stewards’ Handicap at Riccarton the day Rapier won the New Zealand Cup. Vascones, the dam of Defence, was got by Gascony, winner of eight races for Mr T. H. Lowry, and descends from D’Oro, a younger sister of the Lowry champion, Desert Gold.