NORTHERN FORM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 57, 30 November 1937, Page 15

NORTHERN FORM

' Early Bird").

Privy Sea! May Be Good Stayer "NOSES" FINISHES

CSpeciail — By '

AUCKLAND, Last Night. Lap Up was pulled up half a mile from home in the hurdles at Ellerslie on Saturday, and he was led back to the birdcage, being very lame. This was his iirst appearance for some time, and it now looks as iL he will have to be given a spell untii the tracks become easy again. No less than 41 fresh horses were accepted for on the second day of the recent Takapuna fisture at Ellerslie. Only four of the iirst day's hurdles contestants suiwived, and of the field of 14 no less than ten were horses that had not raced the firsi day. The cause of this was probably the fiact that there was two days ' racing the ixrevious week-end. Kelly and the Cup.

Kelly revealed some pace in the early and middle stages of the Alison Chip contest, for he trailed the pacemaker, Dark Shadow, to the three fnrlongs post, when he began to weaken. He should be improved by the outing, for it was his first attempt over a oiiddle distance. The Kilbroney gelding is engaged in the Auckland Cup, and with the weight he is sure to get in that event, he can be classed as a possibility, for he is a good stayer and he is Iilcely to bc going on when .others are weakening. Master Brierly was in the ruclc going out of the straight in the Alison Cup, aiid while he made an effort running down to the half -mile peg others were doing just as weil as the veteran, nnd he never made much headway. His ('fellow dead-heater in the Waikato Cup, drew the extreme outside last Saturday and he was thus hampered from the start. He was bustled along in a fruitless endeavour to get a position, but his rider eventually gave it up as hopeless at the half -mile. Going on the displays of this pair the -Ellerslie track was not quite so suitable for them as that at Te Rapa. Improving Youngster •Vitement began very quickly in the two-year-old race last Saturday, and this finally won the race for him. In the final furlong she bored over to tho rail from the,-»falsa ..jail. (especially erecfed to preserve the ground nest the rails all the way round the top bend), and this gave Te Hero a check, and the hot favourito failed to bridge the gap of three lengths in the final hundred yards. Vitement is going to be useful. He is by the Martian horse Raceful out of Persis, dam of many good performers, iiotably Lady Lois, Tuahine, Nucleus, The. Eox, Royal Duke, Perseus, Persham, Gay Seton and Gay Sister. Persis was 21 years of age when she produced Vitement. In all his preyious outings this season Tray Bit had been very scratchy in his , preliminary, but last Saturday in the Takapun sprint he moved witli plenty of freedom, and so it was not surprising to find him leading the field home in what was officially designated a "noses" finish." A eouple of seasons ago the Paper Money gelding was at the top of the weights and he registered several modest efforts, mostly due to unsoundness, and this enabled him to come down in the handicap. He was brilliant last Saturday, for he was cheeked when making his run in the straight and the:-. won nicely Staying Better.. Royal Appellant has yet to win over a mile and a quarter, although he. made a gallant attempt to do so in the Alison Cup, in which he was third, a nose and half a head behind the winner, Dark Shadow, and he was finshing on, so he Qught to be a Summer Cup prospect at Ellerslie latef in the'year. There is no better miler in the Dominion than Royal Appellent, goifig on his performances over this distance, and his latest display certainly indicates that he will go farther, especially when he strikes an easy track, which may not be often at this time of the year, Bass won at Cambridge' on Labour Day, and then disappointed at both Te Rapa and Takapuna, but it is probable that the best was not seen of him at either plaee. The Little England gelding usually raccs best on an easy eourse, and while the going last Saturday at headquarters was perfect, perhaps he would have preferred it wet. Bass is a first-clasj hurdler in the making, and he has been sehooled off and on lately, giving brilliant displays. It is probable that be will be raced over the sticlcs at the Auckland, summer fixture, and for a maiden jumper he is going to be "nicely placed. It has talren Privy Seal a long time td win her first Vace, and when she did incidentally she made a thorough job of it, giving lier opponents a trouncing over the final furlong. Her suecess made another victor for Lord- Wardpn, whose progeny have had a wonderful spring on tjie Turf. The mapfier in wliich she ran away at the end of the mile suggested that staying is her forte, and this is not surprising, for hsr sire also won the New Zealand Cup the other day with this daughter Cerne Abbas. Palestrina, the dam of Privy Seal, was a well-known South Island galloper in her day, and it now seems as if her daughter will be at least as equally successful.