VERY PLACID

NZ Truth, Issue 1291, 4 September 1930, Page 14

VERY PLACID

Annoy er Fails To Show Fight

VWHEN if comes to backing a ** Gloaming, a Limerick or a Phar Lap, punters are prepared to take short odds for their money, but it is very different when they are asked to accept very much under evens for en ordinary every-day hack. At New Plymouth last Saturday everybody on the course seemed to have the oil that The Warden could not get beaten m the seven furlong Waihi Handicap. There were several other runners, of course, but as far as the crowd was concerned they did not exist. The money poured m for The .Warden, and he started one of the shortest priced favorites for some time. That there was very good reason for the support was evident before the face was half over. X . . The Warden was there sitting pretty m behind, and when' it~ came to the straight entrance he ran up on the outside and came home singing racketty. It was expected that Annoyer would give the favorite some trouble for at least part of the trip, but this expectation, was not realised. Gray was content to follow The Warden till the straight ' wai reached but when Bert Morris went up on the outer Gray sat m behind, perhaps hoping that an opening would present itself. That opening never came, and as New Plymouth is a course with a very short straight the race was soon over, with Annoyer in' fourth place and apparently going nicely. Those who' know Annoyer say that he is a perfect "take." He will do anything on the track, but m public, with the colors up, he cannot gallop a lick. Possibly that explains why Gray failed to 'follow Morris last Saturday — his mount could not ' do the necessary. However Annoyer looked particularly well to the eye, and even 'if that is the best he is capable of there is going to be some, foreign support for him the day the ■ whisper gets about that there is a possibility of his reproducing his track work.

. It will not be till that day that some people will be convinced that he is not worth powder and shot. Time alone will tell. .