SECOND HURDLES WIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 135, 9 June 1937, Page 15

SECOND HURDLES WIN

SANDY DIX'S OWNER

GREAT NORTHERN FEATURES

It is not given to many owners to win the Great Northern Hurdles twice with different "horses, but that is the feat.that Mr. A. Coubrough, now of Cambridge, accomplished when Sandy Dix came home at the head of .this year's field last Saturday. Six years ago Mr. Coubrough won the race with Prince Lv, who was an even bigger outsider tha"n Sandy Dix was. Both horses strangely were reputed nonstayers, yet they each succeeded in winning the longest and mpst difficult hurdle event in the Dominion, decisively too and without shadow of a fluke. ■ ' Other owners who have . won the Great Northern. Hurdles twice with different horses have been Mr. A. P.1 Douglas, with Merriwai and Waipu, the Hon. J. Ormond, with Napper and Gladful, and Mr. J. F. D. Corry. with Makeup and Stanchion. The only horse to-have won the race twice has been El Gallo,'who was always owned by Mr. W. J. Ralph. THOMSON'S LUCKY RIDE. Another interesting feature about the success of bandy Dix concerns his riding. C. Thomson secured the mount on him very late. When it was intended to start both Lord Val and Black Marlin in the race, F. E. Baker elected to ride Black Marlin and Thorn.son was then secured lor Lord Val. The scratching of Black Marlin on the eve of the race caused a readjustment of mounts, Thomson allowing Baker to take the ride on Lord Val and himself transferring to Sandy Dix, who UP till that stage was without a pilot. Tnomson was thus enabled to • obtain satisfaction for his execrable luck on Clarion Call in -the event twelve months earlier. A further coincidence was that Thomson was on Sandy Dix when the gelding gained his first race success, ~n the A.R.C. Hunt Club Hurdles at the Great Northern Meeting two years ago. Sandy Dix at that time was a member of L. Knapp's stable at Awapurti, but he remained north after the race and when he resumed last season lie was handed to T. M. Morris, who has trained him since at Cambridge, where his owner now lives. When Sandy Dix was racing for some months at this end of the North Island, the main point of note.about him was his pace. At his first outing in.these parts he.beat all except Manawatu in a hurdles, at Levin. It was then that an impression was gained that he was a doubtful stayer, but age and experience has now fitted him to go the longest journeys over fences. NOT KACED TILL FIVE. Mr.. Goubrough secured the horse when he was an early three-year-old, Durchasing him from his breeder, Mr. £\ J. Marshall, of Morrinsville. It was not till the gelding was five years old that he had his. first race, and in ten starts on the flat that season his only placing was a third. The next seasonhe had three outings without any placings; and then as a seven-year-old he was.turned to the jumping game by L. Knapp, who was responsible'for his education that season. As art eight-year-old last season Sandy Dix had quite a payable year. Round about the New Year he had three winr, in line, the W. E. Park Hurdles at Te Awamutu and the Ponsonby and Auckland Hurdles at the Auckland Cup Meeting. In all those successes he was ridden by J. Mcßae. At the A.R.C. Autumn Meeting he was tried out as a steeplechaser in the ■Mangere Steeples, but failed and could not be raced subsequently last season. He did not resume till the Thames Meeting in January, and his only success this season prior to his Great Northern win was in the Avondale Hurdles in April, when he was ridden by J. Muir. In the Waikato Hurdles won by Lord Val last month he was prominent most of the way, but" he failed to run on over the closing stages, as he had often previously done. . Sandy Dixs racing record is as follows: — ■ , : Stakes. Starts. Wins. Places. £ At 5 years j 10 — 1 10 At G years ....... 3 — — — At 7 years 8 1 2 235 At S years 12 3 3 070 At 9 years S 2 1 850 Totals 41 8 7 £1763 ■ All the wins in this table were secured ovev fences, and four of them have been registered on the Ellerslie course. Sandy Dix is obviously well suited, by the Ellerslie obstacles, which have been the undoing of so many horses. Indeed,.it is probable that accurate jumping is Sandy Dixs strength, and that the effort of traversing the stiff Ellerslie hurdles is less of an exertion to him than it is to the majority of horses, which leaves him with something in 'reserve when others are expended. Generally at Ellerslie the pace is kept down, because of the severity of the obstacles, which, of course, assists horses who, are doubtful in point of stamina. BEDFORD'S HALF-BROTHER. Sandy Dix, a light chestnut gelding with two white hind fetlocks and a small .white, star, is another of'the offspring of the Australian-bred importation Sandstar, who did not have a great many'opportunities in his few seasons at the stud, but who left a number of very useful horses with what chances he did get. Among his other winners have been One Whetu, who won the Cornwall Handicap at the Great Northern Meeting last year, and Taitoru, who was winning the Empire Handicap at Wanganui on Saturday not long after Sandy Dix had saluted the, judge in the Great Northern. Sandstar, who was by the Rock Sand horse Sands of the Orient, an American-bred sire, who was exported out to Australia, descends in maternal line from the famous Pulchra,. his fifth dam and one of the most notable taproots in the New Zealand Stud Book. , Sandy Dixs dam was Miss Dix, who was also a chestnut mare. She was by Phoebus Apollo (son of St. Simon) from Abydos, by Nelson (son of• King Cole) from Memphis, by Gary Forward (son of Stockwell) from Palmyra by South Australian (son of Cotterstone) from Zenobia (imp.), by Kingston. The family came to NewZealand from South Australia with the importation of Memphis in the early elTne eSZenobia branch of the No 12 family has not earned any particular fame in Australia or New Zealand, but it has kept itself alive with occasional useful horses. The line here mainly survives through Abydos s daughter Miss Dix, who was at .the stud from 1907 till 1932. Miss Dixs other progeny have included Bedford, a very successful handicapper who won among other races the Takapuna and Winter. Cups, and Sibford. who left the A.R.C. Railway winner Awarere. A possibly more successful branch of this line came to New Zealand through Miss Laura, a half-sister to Zenobia, and whose descendants. have numbered among them performers of the calibie (N.Z. Cup), and in more recent years of Monaghan, Tip Tiee, Cleasanta, and such. The family may not be a particularly notable one through any of its branches, but it s still a force to reckon with while v can produce horses of the stamp o£ Sandy Dix, with Bedford and Awarere also not so far back in the records.

. The Hardvvicke Stakes, one of the most valuable events on the Ascot programme, to be decided in England next week, is named after Lord Hardwicke, Master of the Buckhounds from 1874 to 1880. According to. "Audax" he was famed for the glossiness of his silk hats. When in the mood he backed his fancies with the.zest of a gambler.