FAMILY PRECEDENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 137, 7 December 1938, Page 17

FAMILY PRECEDENTS

MARIE'S ACRE, PHILCOURT

(Special from "Early Bird.")

AUCKLAND, December 6. Were bracketed horses to be treated as such in early business on races like the Auckland Cup and Railway Handicap, there is little doubt that the Marie's Acre-Philcourt combination would be a popular one with the speculators when the handicaps were announced. However, this coupling business does not apply except on the totalisator on the day. Quite apart from the prospects of Marie's Acre and Philcourt in the Railway Handicap, there is the family record in this very event that must cause interest to be focused upon them. For instance, in 1933, Gay Sheila, a half-sister to the pair mentioned, finished a close second under 7.11 to Silver Streak, 7.10, in Imin 12 2-ssec. A year later Gay Blonde, a sister to Gay Sheila, won the Railway with 7.13, beating Gay Seton and Diatomous in Imin 11 3-ssec. The 1934 winner carried weight-for-age, so this point may be worth remembering in connection with Philcourt's prospects. Last Boxing Day, Marie's Acre contested the Railway Handicap with 7.5 and finished third to Stretto and Ben Braggie in Imin 12sec. This was the time when Stretto was unbeatable, for she scored the easiest victory ever registered in this valuable sprint, and moreover she was expected to do just that very thing, for she had only 7.4 and had a few days previously spreadeagled a sprint field at Te Awamutu. How good this mare subsequently proved herself is now history, but at her third start at Ellerslie she finished second with 9.4 to Whirling,' with Marie's Acre, 7.7, again third. I Marie's Acre started off the season at Ellerslie very well a couple oi months ago, when he captured both the open sprints, with 7.12 and 8.8 respectively; and in the Railway Handicap |he comes down to 8.5, while Stretto incidentally has gone up to 9.7. Compared with the weights carried m the last Railway Handicap, Marie's Acre now meets Stretto 171b better, even if he has gone up a full stone on his last year's impost. Last summer he was inclined to be sore and tucked up on hard tracks, and in this respect he was somewhat like Royal Chief, who was made to look, a moderate by Court"so'much rain has fallen in the Auckland district during the past couple ot weeks that it is hoped the tracks will be very much better for the holiday racing at Ellerslie this year, for the sole of grass should be better than in the past and so assist the tender-footed gallopers. Marie's Acre has had a tendency to get a bit behind in the early part of his races and this will not assist him to win a Railway Handicap, but if he experiences favourable conditions on the day this handicap half-brother by Philamor to Gay Sheila, Gay Blonde, and Marie's Acre, may emulate the performance of the first-mentioned and win the Railway Handicap as a three-year-old. His efforts as a sprinter this season have been high class and suggest Railway Handicap possibilities. He is in the bis sprint at half a stone less than weight-for-age, and this conces-sion-he ii now down 81b on the weight he carried from second to last at the turn at Te Rapa to a very close third in the event won by Llangollen from Te Monowai-^should enable him to more than hold his own with the local cracks or visiting hopes. The fact that Philcourt was asked to contest the Alison Cup recently suggested that his connections might have had hopes of winning the Great Northern Derby, and the colts showing in that mile and a quarter event doubtless raised those hopes. But in the interim it has been announced that Defaulter is a certain starter in the rich classic, and so the stable may concentrate, upon the Railway Handicap and the weight-for-age events, m which Defaulter is not engaged. In the meantime Philcourt is given a first-rate chance of winning the Railway Handicap.