SOUTHLAND CUP ENTRANTS

Southland Times, Issue 24228, 11 September 1940, Page 9

SOUTHLAND CUP ENTRANTS

Niglitcalm Is Out Of Action LORD MIDAS HAS DONE WELL Acceptances for the Geraldine meeting close on Monday. Dunedin Meeting Nominations for the spring meeting of the Dunedin Jockey Club close on September 24. Forfeits for the McLean Stakes and the Dunedin Guineas will be taken the same day. Gore Spring Meeting The programme for the spring meeting of the Gore Racing Club on October 26 and 28 has been issued. The chief event the first day, the Waikaka Handicap (£250), will be run over eight furlongs and a-half, while the Flying Handicap (six furlongs) is worth £l7O. Nominations will be taken on October 7. Four Wins In Succession As expected. Sir Beau won the Wanganui Guineas. It was his first race since he won the Nursery Handicap at the Wellington Cup meeting last January, and his record now stands at four wins (in succession) and a second out of five starts. A Flooded Area Though the New Brighton racecourse is on high ground and dries quickly, it is close to low-lying country, part of which is Travis’s swamp. Mr A. I. Rattray, who has been connected with the New Brighton Trotting Club during its 50 years of existence, says he does not remember so much water lying on this part. It has been an exceptional flood. Lord Midas Lord Midas has been improved by a couple of races since the beginning of the season and it should not be long before he shows form. His next outing may be in the Chatmos Hack Handicap at Ashburton, but he will be meeting a number of smart and seasoned hacks which may be too solid for him just yet. Lord Midas had two successes and six minor placings in his fourteen starts last season. He is now a four-year-old and has done well since being gelded.

Nightcalm Out Nightcalm attempted to run off the Orari track recently and injured himself when he struck a post. He is not seriously hurt and may be able to race at the Geraldine meeting in the principal sprint races. Since he took over his horses from C. Emerson last season, Mr F. C. Christie has had a run of bad luck, Nightcalm being his third horse to be injured. Montessa, the Oaks winner, suffered a broken leg through being kicked, while Invercauld injured a knee badly while being educated as a jumper. David’s Death

David, whose death is reported from Sydney, won £31,410/10/- in stakes, the result of 20 wins, 16 seconds and 13 thirds. Most of his total was earned at Randwick. From comparatively lowly beginnings David gradually developed into a top-class stayer. He won the Sydney Cup with 9.7, and was second in The Metropolitan with 9.13 and 9.8. He won the Randwick Plate three times, and Spring Stakes twice. David met with a fair amount of success at the stud, and sired some good jumpers as well as flat racers. His last important winner was Dark David, who recently captured the Australian Steeplechase. “Son Of A Cart-Horse”

Under the heading “Son of a cart-, horse makes a name for himself on track” a Christchurch writer is responsible for the following: “Great Divide is one of the toughest pacers in commission, and were it not for the fact that he hits his knees, would be outstanding among the best in New Zealand. Horses of his class are difficult to train and often injure themselves sufficiently to keep them from the tracks . . . Great Divide is an upstanding chestnut gelding by Great Bingen, one of the greatest pacers of his day, from a mare by Blue Mountain King, a son of the famous Ribbonwood (2min 9sec). The dam of Great Divide never raced, and was owned by Mr A. D. Pulley, of Invercargill, who bred Great Divide. She was from the same dam as Gold Tinge and Black Surprise. These two were also bred by Mr Pulley. Their dam pulled a bread cart round the town.” A Classic Hurdler Smoke Screen, winner of the hurdle race each day at the Wanganui meeting, is now a six-year-old stallion by Limond from Curtain. As a three-year-old he won the Great Northern Guineas, was beaten by Royal Chief by half a length in the Trentham Stakes, run in Imin won the Riccarton Handicap under 9.2, beaten by a neck in the New Zealand Derby by Royal Chief, second to Oratory in the Thompson Handicap, and won the Hutt Handicap at Trentham in the autumn. As a fouryeatrold he established a New Zealand record, Imin 35 3-ssec, when he gave Stretto 31b and a half-head beating in the King’s Plate, and his only other win out of six starts was when he beat Oratory in the Taranaki Stakes Last season, after one start on >the flat, Smoke Screen was put aside until the winter meetings, and was then tried over hurdles, but a third out of six starts was the best he could do. Reports from Wanganui show that Smoke Screen has yet to learn a lot about jumping. Cup Candidates

Three Invercargill horses, Doubleack, Sparkle and Heidelberg, have been nominated for the New Zealand Cup, to be run at Riccarton in November, and if all train on and are produced at the top of their form on Cup day they should add great interest to the race. So far Sparkle has the best credentials as she spreadeagled a high-class Dunedin Cup field. It was a most impressive effort as over the last furlong she gave nothing else a chance It was intended to start her in the Great Autumn Handicap—a race in which she appeared to have a great chance—but she had to be put aside because of kidney trouble. Like the majority of Colonel Cygnus’s stock raced Sparkle is a very clean-winded mare and she has only to train on to win some good staying races. Doubleack, a half-brother to Trebleack, who ran a fine race in the New Zealand Cup a few seasons back, is one of the most improved young stayers about. The Balboa gelding vzas still a novice when he opened his campaign last season, but he finished up by winning four races, including the Wyndham Cup. In the latter race he ran the mile and a-quarter in 2min 6sec on a track which was not fast. Doubleack is a stayer through and

through and if he stands up to a Cup preparation he is one whose claims will not be discounted. Heidelberg is still eligible for hack events, but he ran some exceptional races over middle distances last season. A season’s racing appears to have made all the difference to him and he is a different horse this year, appearing much more solid. The Lord Warden gelding won the Wairio Cup when getting 31b from Sparkle, who a short time later won the Dunedin Cup. A comparison of this form gives an idea of the possibilities that may be held for Heidelberg.

New Zealand Cup

The nominations for the New Zealand Cup do not include a three-year-old. One of that age has not been a winner since Indigo dead-heated with the four-year-old Warstep in 1914. At one time three-year-olds played a prominent part in connection with the big race at Riccarton, but in more recent years owners and trainers seem reluctant to subject one of the age to a Cup preparation (comments The Otago Daily Times). In the past a good three-year-old has been able to outclass completely the ordinary handicap field. Noctuiform did so, and on one occasion not only did a three-year-old win, but others of the 'same age filled the places. An idea exists that a preparation for the New Zealand Cup is too severe a task. A race over the distance on an inadequate preparation may ruin a horse, but the records of the race show that a horse can stand up to several preparations for it without suffering any damage. It may be said that it depends on the trainer’s knowledge—or lack of it. The records show that Lochiel ran third in 1885 and 1886, won in 1887, and was unplaced in 1888, when three-year-olds—Manton, Son of a Gun, and Exchange—filled the places. Lochiel also won an Auckland Cup, Australian Cup, New Market Handicap, and other races. Rosefeldt was third at three years and won at five years, but was unplaced the following year, Fulmen ran second, was then unplaced, deadheated with Ideal, and was unplaced again in 1901. Three-year-olds in Trailleur and Scots Grey were first and second in 1889, and second and third in 1891. St. Hippo won the New Zealand Cup and Auckland Cup at three years. Euroclydon won the treble, and so did Manton and Noctuiform. Seahorse won at three years, but in later years three-year-olds have been very seldom included in the field. This is all the more noteworthy as second season horses are really protected by the condition attached to the race. For instance, Noctuiform won the A.J.C. Derby and came back to win the New Zealand Cup, for which he could not be penalized. A three-year-old could win all along the line at the early spring meetings and still escape a rehandicap, whereas a four-year-old or an older horse could be penalized from the minimum up to among the topweights.