THE LINCOLN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 721, 22 July 1929, Page 13

THE LINCOLN

A POOR AFFAIR ELTON’S SHOCK Poor Lincoln i The Lincolnshire Handicap, with its three-figure winner —the second since 1926—gave us another reason why we should shun this plague spot for backers. In addition to risking discomforts for which there are no compensations, why should one go there to be “broke” year after year (sorrowfully comments a London writer). Here was a horse, Elton, that was under veterinary treatment for splints not long before the race. He never went out for a walk for a fortnight, and only galloped about once or twice before the race. His wellliked trainer, Harvey Leader, had a trifle, on him at 66 to 1, but it was only a fifth of what he intended to have before the lamenef*. I shall assume, therefore, that when really top-hole Elton is a very smart horse. His success may have been hateful to backers generally, as the win of a three-figure chance in a big handicap always must be, but I expect we shall find as time goes on that it was no fluke. A happening in this race almost as astonishing as the result was the backing of a little-known one named County Guy, belonging to Mrs. Evans, who, had her first husband lived would now be the Countess of Aberdare. I believe she and her husband stood to win a small fortune over him at odds

lof about 33 to 1. I wonder why they j wagered so confidently. NOT LAME | It was said before the race that the ■ horse had been lame. The betting, ! of course, said “No.” The fact that i he finished last in the race may have I said anything. It. was truly amazing. I Miscou brought his owner, Lord j Beaverbrook. to see him finish third. A pity the horse did not go two better. ■ He appeared to suffer from a change of mind with the race almost won. Garnock sweated his chance away before going to the post, though discards as a rule do not win important races at the first time of asking. The horse had been sold out of Lord Derby’s stable. The French horse, Orosmade, looked a commoner. His ■ backers on the course must have included many poor judges of a horse. ■ Scintillation did anything but that. ! Altogether it was a poor affair. It might have been an apprentices’. handicap, which, indeed it was with eighteen of the starters carrying less than 7-0!