CAREER OF AUTOPAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 84, 6 October 1931, Page 4

CAREER OF AUTOPAY

LUCK OF. RACING GAME

The luck of the Turf was given .further exemplification at Eandvrick on Saturday, when the racing partnership of Messrs. N. E.;Aitkeri and H. F. Wood, two wellknown ' Welliugton sportsmen, was successful; in winning the Epsom Handicap, Australia's premier mile handicap of the spring, .with the first horse it had raced —Autopay. Moreover, Autopay put only 'the second 'New Zealand victory on the records- for the 'i-aeti, 'Xightmateh, two years ago, having been the first to • score lin the event, though in earlier yearn Steward (by Welcome Jack) ami Contest (by Loehiel) were both by sires' who were brerl. -An. New. JJealaud... ... _ ~......,. i Autopay, aeffording to the cable reports, won really''brilliantly,- after making all the running. ■ : Advice received subsequent to hia six.lengths victory at Hawkesbury last iMopday stated-that doubts -were..still held by the majority of New Zealand trainers 'In Sydney "about his ability to see out the mile? ,but it was added that his own trainer (T. Pritchard) was confident on the..point; and that" his immediate connections would bo big winners if he scored. Autopay did all that was hoped he would, ifor'he had to show real determination to hold off the challenge of at least Ticino, but responded in :most courageous fashion and asserted his superiority in no unstinted manner. He had Ticino well settled at the finish, and there was nothing else on hand molesting his supremacy. Autopay; now four years old, has been a good money-spinner from the time he was,; first produced as a two-year-old. In his-first season he. had. twelve .starts for two wins; ,twb seconds, and two 'thirds, winning £420 in stakes. -Last season he was saddled;.np nineteen times, starting off with, a win at Marton, and subsequently scoring;: on five other occasions, being second four-times, and. third three times, for: exactly £2000 in stakes.' Among his successes were the C.J.C. Stewards' Handicap,'the Wellington City Handicap, sis furlongs, the ManawaU J. M. Johnston ; Memorial Handicap, six furlongs, and the C.J.C. Tenipleton Handicap, seven furlongs. -■■■■"'.■. . ■ ■ :. This season he .'was sent across to Syd;ney at the end of August, and, after running unplaced in the Campbelltown Handicap at Warwick Farm and in a division of the Tramway Handicap at the Tattersall's Meeting at his first two outings, started on his sequence of three wins in the Camellia ' Stakes, seven furlongs, at the Eosehill Meeting last Saturday fortnight. His next start was at Hawkesbury, where, carrying '9.6,.-'he'won in hollow style, and then followed the Epsom on Saturday. The hard race ha had in the last-named oveiit probably was the cause of his inferior showing in the Shorts Handicap at Kandwick, yesterday. His earnings on the trip, now approximate.£22so. :

His fuljrecdrd is:— ' ■':' -.-■ : Starts.' Wins. Stakes. .•. ..• £ At'l years .;.... !2: 2 420 At 3 years Ift B 2000 At. i years. ... ........ 6 3 2250 Totals .37 H £4670 Autopay is bred along speed lines, and it is not to be expected that he will ever compass much more than a mile successfully in good company. He is c. bay colt by Paper Money (leading sire of^the Dominion in 1829, and sire of the winners of nearly £90,000 in six seasons) from the imported mare Trebelli 11., formerly one of the Longbcach mares, but subsequently obtained by Mr. E. E. Luscombe, who bred Autopay, and now owned by Messrs. Aitken and Wood. Trebelli 11. is a member of the~No. 7 family which produced Flying Fox, West Australian, Parmesan (grandsire of Isabel,.dam. of St. Frusquiu), Wild Dayrell; Hermione (dam of Perdita II j dam of Persimmon, Diamond Jubilee, and Flqrizel ID, Euclid (sire of Eulogy, second dam of Mersey, dam of Carbine), and other celebrated horses. • She is by Thrush (a great English galloper, particularly over sprint distances) from Dramatica, by St. Simon from Tragedy (the dam of. Birkenhead; ft highly, suqcessful pice imported to the Dominion by the late Hon.' J.-D,' Ormorid), by Ben Battle (son of Rataplan). Trebelli 11. was also the

! clam of Sopra, who left in turn that useful I Australian performer lleonui. [ Autopay's leading lines -are therefore:— i Sire1 Paper Money (Imported), by Greenback (son of St. Fcusquln) from Epping Uosc, by Eager (son of finthusiust and grandson of Sterling) from Briar, by Common (son of Isonomy, and winner of tho Triple (Crown) from Lady Blankney, by Hermit (son of Ncwmlnster). Family No. 10. Dam: Trebelll 11. (Imported), by Thrush (son of Missel Thrush ami grandson ut (Orme) from Dramatlea, by St. Simon (unbeaten on the racecourse, and nine times champion slro of England) from Tragedy, by Ben Battle (son of Kataplan) from The White Witch, by .Masstnlssa (son «( The Plying Dutchman and a high-class performer In France) from Jeu do Mots, by Kinn Tom. Family No. 7. Autopay has been trained since he was purchased at the beginning of his two-year-old career by his present owners by T. Prilchard, formerly of Opaki, but since the autumn and prior to the Sydney trip at Trcntham, where Pritchard now has his permanent quarters. He was not extensively tried ut Trentham, for his ability was known, and the policy of his trainer in waiting till the arrival in Auslia before tuning him up for racing has had very pcolitablc reward. j