SPLENDID RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 672, 25 May 1929, Page 11

SPLENDID RECORD

Will Waitald GirPs Mission Again be King George Stakes

CAN SHE MAKE IT FOUR ?

AFTER running second to Vilo in the King George Handicap at the Canterbury Park June fixture of 1925, Waitaki Girl succeeded in winning the event for the next three years, accomplishing - the hat-trick. H. Akers’s fine pacing mare figures in the list again for next week’s contest, and it will be interesting to see if she can make it four on end.

r pilE field engaged next Saturday will be a very strong one, containing some of two-milers in the land, and Waitaki Girl will probably find that she has a big job in front of her. But the daughter of Harold Dillon and Stanley’s Child is such a game pacer, endowed with speed and stamina, that no task appears too huge for her. It is true that this season Harry Aker’s mare has not been nruch in tlie limelight, but “Abaydos” has not forgotten the brilliant effort she put forth on the concluding day of the November Addington carnival when she finished ..almost in line .with Jack Potts and Talaro. If 'Waitaki Girl faces the starter next week-end at Addington, it will

a narrow margin, in 4.40, on a slow track, thus completing the “hat trick.” A Great Career For the coming contest, Waitaki Girl is again on 72yds behind in a 4.31 class, and although she has only a couple of minor plaeings to her credit this season,, she must be respected next Saturday if her owner decides to tackle the opposition. At the Metropolitan Cup fixture Waitaki Girl finished third to Talaro and Jack Potts over two miles in 4.25 4-5. On New Year’s Day at Addington off a 4.25 peg Aker's mare finished second to the crack-a-jack, Kingcraft, who was in receipt of 36yds, Ahuriri, conceding her 12yds, being a length away third. Strange to say, Waitaki Girl opened her winning account as a three-year-old at a Canterbury Park winter fixture, when she annexed the Maturity Stakes and the next year she won the principal event at Timaru, and the Campbell Handicap at Auckland, displaying in both races wonderful staying ability. The following season the Harold Dillon mare won a two-mile heat at Addington in 4.30 3-5 and showed a great burst of speed at Forbury Park by winning a mile in 2.13 3-5. The season 1925-26 proved a profitable ’one for the connections and admirers of this fine mare, and no fewer than seven good handicaps fell to her lot. Four of these were scored suci cessively. The sequence was broken when she ran third in her next start, but in getting this position the mare “NAZQL” inhaled instantly shifts a cold in the head. Powerful and penetrating. 60 doses for ls 6d. 2

mark her fifth appearance in the King George Handicap, and as she has won the “birthday stakes” three years in succession, it is quite probable that her owner will endeavour to add another victory to the dashing pacer’s list. A Patriotic Mare In 1925, as a five-year-old, Harold Dillon’s daughter put up a big fight for the thick end of the purse in this event, being beaten at the end by Vilo, a great performer, who had previously secured the honour in 1923. The following year, after several high-class achievements, Waitaki Girl, handicapped on 4.24 and conceding starts up to 96yds, triumphed over a good field recording 4.25 for the 16 furlongs. The 1926-27 season saw Aker’s mare race without much success, being now on a difficult mark, but when the Canterbury Park winter fixture rolled along, she gave the opposition a rudef shock in the King George Handicap, winning decisively from 84yds behind. Last season was a lean one for the pacing queen, and with 15 appearances under silk, two thirds was all she had accomplished. But her next outing was again her favourite heat —King George Handicap—in which she * was placed on a 4.24 mark (72yds behind). “Scotty” Bryce drove her to victory, the mare defeating Logan Chief by

summer meeting in 2.47 2-5. After a couple of failures the mare attracted attention by winning the Timaru Cup in 4.27, which was followed by a victory in the Wainoni Handicap on the first day of the New Brighton autumn fixture, w'here she recorded 2.45 for a mile and a-quarter. On the second day tlie New Brighton Handicap was her mission, and again home she came in the good time of 4.26 4-5. The Harold Dillon mare next appeared at the Metropolitan Easter function at Addington. when she secured her fourth successive victory by landing the 10-furlong Flying Handicap in 2.41 3-5, and after running third on the final day to Minton Derby and Jack Potts in 4.22, she wound up a wonderful season by annexing the King George Handicap. Waitaki Girl, who is now approaching the end of her ninth year, has had a remarkable and successful turf career, during which time she has won stake money to the approximate value of £6,000. Her most successful seasons were: 1923-24, £1,245: and 1925-26, £1.835. Should this brilliant performer succeed in adding the King George Handicap to her splendid record on Saturday for the fourth time in succession, it would be a fitting climax to a wonderful career.

set the seal on her fame by tramping two miles in 4.22, while next time up she won the King George Handicap, which again came her way the two following years, and perhaps may be in her keeping for the fourth time on Saturday. Waitaki Girl, who was in her sixth year when she achieved this remarkable record, won the Beach Handicap of 10 furlongs at the New Brighton