LORD DERBY’S 1928 PROSPECTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 285, 22 February 1928, Page 10

LORD DERBY’S 1928 PROSPECTS

STAMINA OF SICKLE EXPERTS AT VARIANCE With ordinary luck it is possible that j Lord Derbj' will have another success- j ful season in 1928, and there is no j reason why Frank Butters should not [ again accomplish big things, writes the ; Newmarket correspondent of London j “Sporting Life.” There is a greater essential than luck \ for a trainer, and that is material. ; From what is apparent at this early j stage the materials available will be of equally good class, so that we need j not be surprised if the Stanley House j trainer again heads the championship j table. Quite a strong trio of stayers have been entered for the Queen's Prize, and the best of Highbrow, Cap-a-Pie, and Caissot must surely develop into a fancied quantity. To write hopefully of a horse who will be a five-year-old a few days hence requires a certain amount of courage. Horses do not usually improve at that agt, and Caissot has al-

ready caused so much trouble and disappointment that I prefer to allow him to establish his own claims on a racecourse. Highbrow seems to defy advancing years, and can always be relied on to run a good horse in whatever company he may be placed. It is, I fancy, to Cap-a-Pie that Lord Derby and Frank Butters will look if any hopes develop of winning the Queen’s Prize, and this horse made such rapid improvement prior to the coughing which prevented him running in the Cesarewitch that I entertain no doubt that he will prove himself one of the best handicap stayers of 1928. Caissot, presumably, is to be given another season of racing, as he was unsold at the Newmarket December sales, but the only stayer at Stanley House I should be prepared to write down as worth following is Cap-a-Pie. Sickle is back in the team, and I see he has been entered for the Coronation Cup at Epsom, but not for the Ascot Gold Cup. Stamina Lacking There can, I think, be only one reason for the omission of his name from the big Ascot race, and' that is his lack of stamina to negotiate two miles and a-half over a severe course. I know that “The Special Commissioner” has been accused of prejudice

against the stock of Philaris. Opposi- i tion which is the expression of a rooted ; conviction having the support of stat- ! istics can only unfairly be as prejudice. Where I am tempted to “cross swords” with my colleague is on what constitutes a stayer. Sickle, since he j was temporarily turned out of training, has thickened considerablj', and looks very well. The Epsom course will suit him. and, from what I saw of his work as a three-year-old, I am perfectly confident that he will stay a mile and a-half, but I should take a lot of convincing that he would ever get the two miles and a-half of the Ascot Gold Cup course. I shall be especially interested, and

no doubt “The Special Commissioner” will be, to read the Hon. George Lanbton’s reason for the non-enry of Sickle in the most important cup race of the year. Unless a stayer of high class emerges from the unknown quantities of our three-year-old ranks, Newmarket will have to rely on Finglas. who has already demonstrated his ability over the Ascot course.