A STRONG TEAM

Chronicle (Levin), 6 March 1946, Page 6

A STRONG TEAM

AWAPUNI HORSES FOR TRENTHAM ; Awapuni stables are well represeuted al the fortlieotiiiiig \.ellington meeting and on reeeni lorm Iocal caiididates are expected to play a jiromiuenL part. Phalaria, Keliiioiit and Merger are • j engaged in the itiiiiu llighweight anu ! all have been winuers al their last slart. idialaiia troiuiced a highweight : tield al Feilding la.-l inontli in no unj eertaiu nianner, but the class was not I parlicularly strong. His knees appoai j to be giving liim a little trouble and j his trauier is not alde to do as mueli : with hini as he would like. At Masterj ioii last Saturday, Keli.iont gave. his ' best- performance to date by leading I tliroughout and tlien outstaying tlie {favourite, Carnfortii, over tlie condudI ing stages of tlie Otahuao Highweight. His foiiii lias been very patrhy in the past, but like most of the Lord Quex piogeny he appears to be be'coming inore solid with age and he may now go to further success. Merger, who lias oeen located at Awapuni for some time, has been a model of consistency botli over hurdles and 011 the flat and at present is bearing a particularly briglit appearanee. At his last outing he scored decisively uuder highweight conditions at the Pahiatua meeting, and with his staying aiulity is capable of Laking a hand in the iinish on Saturday. The only local representative in the Flunket Nursery is Tribute, vvlio, at'ter his impressive winning debut at Woodville, is likely to be oue of the favourites. There is no doubt that the brotlier to Subdued is a class eolt and, with the experienee gained, should be quite eapable of hoiding his own with his move seasoned rivals. . With Financial, Lnngue d'Or/

-i.lethea, Saludos, Lady Spiral, Flying Ace, iieneve and Dileas engage.d in the Autumn Handieap, loeal stables appear .0 holci a particularly strong hand. Financial has freshened up well sinee racing at the last Wellington meeting. and ius track work indicates that he is back to his best. However, with 8.9 he may lind it diilicult to concede weight to soine of those further down the list. .although narrowly beaten by Alethea and .Matador iu tlie niain ovent at Opaki last Saturday, Langue d'Or is uot likely to lose any friends. Oarryuig 9.0, he was asked for an ellort to run up to the ieader half a-miie froin nome and, under the circumstances, it was not surprisiug to lind him left without an extra iiuishing run over the last bit. It is doubtful whether the Lang Lian geiding has ever been better, and w itli 8.0 appears to be oue of the out sianding prospects. iiis stablemate, Alethea, also ligures in the Taranaki Cup ou Saturday, but plans have been made for lier to race at vv eliington. lier winning performance at masterton also mak.es lier a .irsc cniss prospect. 0. J. Thomson 's .niier representative, Saludos, also ligarqs" in ino 4'Uompson ilandicap, and it nuuld occasiou no surprise if the mile event was chosen for liim. The Salrnaguiiiti geiding appeared in the sprint at -Masterton and, although he never moked a possibitity, he was noticed tmctuig 111 good work at the iinish. He has been showing slight signs of soreiicss Jaiely arnl nm chances may be betior ju,ilgeil 011 the way he eonies through His iinal preparation this week.

Lauy t>pirai is 111 spiendid rorni and lier end-lo-end win in the ^ianchestei ciauUieap at Feilding recently was an impressive performance. However, she may tiiul ,the mile and a half troublesome and may be seen to better advamage over a mile 011 the second day. I lymg Ace disappoin'ted at Feilding and Woodville, but he invariably races well at Trentham. He has been gailoping consistently well on the track aud appeais more than the other iiglit.veiglits Leneve and Dileas. f lying Urders is to make his Iirst appearanee 111 open company in the itailvvay Handieap, and is uot likely to be disgraced. The Croupier geiding is a deiicate customer and took some little Hiiie to become solid, but. in his last nvo starts has a record of tliree wins, a second aud a fourtli. He is undouutedly oue of the best sprinters at uoadquarters and many good judges will be astray if he does graduate into • up sprint elass. ...Another recently promored hack engaged is Young Margaret who, although she may tind the company beyond her al Trentham, can be .elied upou to run her usual lionest race. Her recent track work has been consistently good and her trainer, JB. Lurgess, can be reiied upon to 'piace her to the liest advautage in future. Judging 011 his two recent winning perioiiiiauces at Hawera, Lpecialist is oue of tlie most nnproved hacks in coinuussion. Ii. Heale 's candidate i: engaged in the Tinakori Hack Handieap and, despite his 8. II, 'is likely to have plenty of friends. Prefa's iiuishing effort in the Waingawa Handieap at Masterton drevv al tention to his innfiiiflitite prosjStftW* Thc big Croupier thrcc-year-old was i.iakiiig his iirst appearanee since win II ing at Hastings in January and, as he iiad had a l'airlv easy time sinee then, it is reasonable to assuine that he will improve with tlie race. He i.a good ganoper and has only comnienccd racing this scason. Kothing has been galloping better over middle distances at Awapuni than Llunket, who is to contest the Silver streaui Handieap. On the verge of open company, he gives indicatioii oi iieing right back to tlie excellent form he dispiayed last winter, and it will be surprisiug if he does uot Jeave the ranks of hacks over the meeting.