A BARGAIN MISSED

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 35, 11 February 1933, Page 7

A BARGAIN MISSED

BRILLIANT PAGANELLI

i "Reference to Paganelli takes my mind back to. w a day when I was asked to have a look at the then Ringdove yearling," writes "W.H." in, the Auckland "Star," "and upon that 'ouce-over' the destiny of Paganelli hinged. Many would-be buyerjj had a look at him, but despite the fact that he was running in a paddock with every opportunity for showing his amazing speed, nobody thought him worth more than 150gns. His bleeder and I thought^ differently, and I was instrumental in having him sent to M. Carroll to be trained.

For years I was condemned by all and sundry, the writer continues, "but the recent Takapuna Meeting was the crowning point in vindicating my judgment, and also his trainer's patient methods during several trying years with the greatest handful of horseflesh of his time. Carroll's triumph ia greater when one remembers that all Paganelli's two-year-old opponents are gone. And what a bunch they were! Laughing Prince, Ciniabue, In the Shade, Gascony, Covent Garden, and Silvermine.

"I can hardly agree that he is as good as ever he was. At carrying weight he is, but his speed is not the same, notwithstanding his track record for six furlongs at Stratford a few weeks ago. In the past he has galloped five furlongs with 201b over weight-for-age in 58sec; in the Jackson Stakes he ran two furlongs, going from a move, in 21% sec; and he has also gone' two furlongs from a stand in 24% sec. Another great gallop he did was on the morning before Corinas won the Auckland Cup. On the<course proper, 40ft out from the rails, he galloped half a mile in 48 l-ssec. He could not do .those l gallops now.

"It has been contended, but I do not agree with the contention, that M. Carroll dodges the big guns. His soje reason for missing Ellerslie is that Paganelli has never liked right-handed tracks. "One has heard many unfounded statements regarding the horse's ownership, and I take this opportunity of stating the facts. Mr. G. R. Crawford, part-owner till last season, was'the breeder, and Mr. R. W. Roberts, the other part-owner, is identical with the Taranaki footballer who captained his province against Auckland in 1913, and subsequently played for New Zealand in Australia and England, also for the New Zealand Ai'my team in California and Africa. v

"Paganelli has probably carried more public money in his career'than any other horse to date, and he has carried big weights over a longer period than any other horse. At one period he Buffered fifteen consecutive defeats and was' still given 8.7 in the Railway Handicap at Ellerslie. He has won more money than any other sprinter, and his times on all tracks stand alone."