PONY OF CLASS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 462, 18 September 1928, Page 10

PONY OF CLASS

A NEAR CHAMPION GREEN BIRD WOULD BEAT BIGGER HORSES There is this drawback about the Australian Jockey Club ban on Australian Racing Club performers—it prevents a horse like Green Bird from being given a chance against the crack sprinters of Australia. So there is a class distinction between the registered horses and tne ponies. In many quarters Green Bird is looked upon as the best galloper at the ponies to-day, a position the horse has earned through a series of performances that have lacked nothing in merit. H© may not be an actual champion. The class of performer at A.R.C. fixtures is not particularly high at pressent, so £7lat he has had really little to beat, but even that does not counterbalance the remarkable pace and stamina that the gelding has shown in most of his races. Possibly his best performance to date was that at Victoria Park recently. He carried top weight in the Handicap, was left at the post, and then won comfortably after giving the second horse Mando any number of lengths over the final furlong. Pace and Stamina It would be ridiculous to proclaim that Green Bird would prove a champion among all-comers were he given a chance at A.J.C. fixtures, but A.R.C. horses with worse credentials have more than paid their way. Green Bird is only a young horse. Only just turned four, it is doubtful whether he has yet reached the top of his capabilities, and if he can improve on his latest effort it is a sorry outlook for owners of other handicap horses.

A very solidly-built gelding, he has all the Greenstead pace, with a little more than the average Greenstead stamina, and appears equally at home on a small or large track. It is doubtful whether the gelding could get a longer distance than a mile in anything like fair company, but up to that mark there is hardly an A.R.C. galloper likely to extend him. He is class. RACING FIXTURES Sept 19. Manawatu Hunt. Sept. 22.—Ashburton R.C. Sept. 22. —Napier Park R.C. Sept. 22. 24.—Avondale J.C. Sept. 27 28.—Geraldine R.C. Sept. 29.—Pakuranga Hunt tat Ellersllel Sept. 29. —Hawke’s Bay J.C. Oct. 6.—Kurow J.C. Oct. 6. B.—Auckland R.C. Oct. 11, 13.—Dunedin J.C. Oct. 13.—Carterton R.C. Oct. 20. 22. —Wellington R.C. Oct. 20. 22.—Gore R.C. Oct. 20. 24.—Waikato R.C. Oct. 22.—Waverley R.C. Oct. 22.—Waikato Hunt Club. Oct. 22.—Waipawa County R.C. Oct. 22.—N. Canterbury R.C.