GAY REBEL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 139, 29 June 1937, Page 15

GAY REBEL

'Early JBird")

Won Three Events in a Fortnight PHgNOMENAl RISE

(From '

AUCKLAND, This Day. i Only a fortnight previously eligible for maiden races, the rise of Gay Rebel to rank with the handicap clasa has ■ been phenomenal, the more so as witjbin this period of time he won his first race and had also dead-heated in ' an op.en handicap. This five-year-old ; Gay Shield gelding is entered for botb | the Manawata ,and Wellington fixtures and as his owner, Mr J. E. Wells (who ] is president of the Avondale Joekey 5 Ciut)) is a delegate to the Raeing Conference nest week it is more than iikely that the Trentham part of the prqgramme at least will be luifilled. While he is now rising six ycars of age, Gay Rebel is as yet young in rac- , ing experience, for he did not begin raeing until Novemfoer 11935, when he was sprung on an unsuspecting publio at Whangarei, competing in the maiden ciass. In. his tirst run he came with a rare burst of speed to run the wmner to a, short head, jvhich was indeed a promising debut. He ran just as well on the second day of the fixture and was again second. A miss and a third . tkree weeks later finishcd his raeing ■ for last season- and this term was well advanced before he was again produced. Narrow Defeats. The first indication that Gay Rebel gave of being likely to make good was at Te iiapa last month, when he contested the two hack handieaps in preference to taking on the maiden. classes, and he wa^ defeated each day into second place, but there was not niuch in nose. Each time he was ridden by an inexperienced apprentice and the gelding was beld to be unlucky. This was followed by a third on the opening day of the Great Northern meeting, but on the final day at Ellerslie he made amends by winning easily over a mile. Beven days later he succeeded at Tauraunga and the followiag Saturday he shared the principal honours with Day . Wind in the Woodstock Stakes at To Awamutu. It was in this event last Saturday that he was again most uniucky, for he recKjived a bad cheek when going nicely on the rails a little over half a mile from Jiome. Then he was trailmg Bonney Gay, who was on the heels of the leaders, and when she went back suddenly she effgCtively stopped Gay Rebel. The latter later on had to make a move to get on the outside and he did so, to be up handy to Day Wind and Mungatoon, the pacemakers, at the hcme turn. Here his rider waa using the whip, a* fatal move, for he was not helping his mount to make this awkward bend and so Gay Rebel ran wide. His chance appeared hopeless, but the. gelding eame with a, brilliant b.urst and just got up on the posfc to make a dead-heat of it with Day Wind, while Mungatoon was a verv ciose third. So while Gay Rebel has done really well to date, lxis luck does not appear to have completely changed, for he was cerfainly a good thing beaten on Saturday last. His apprentice rider through lack of experience lost an excellent ehance of winning outright, but one must admire Mr Well'S loyalty to the stable horseman. While the Woodstock Stakes field-' was perhaps representative of nothing more than second-rate handicap horses, the fact that Gay Rebel ought to have scored decisively instead of being com- . pelled to share the first honours indi•catea that he is above the average. He was bred and is trained by his present : owner, and in this he has much in cofflinon with the president * of the Waipu Raeing Club, Mr M, H. Tims, who also bred, owns and trajns Te Monowai and Beseige, both of whom won last Saturday.