Richfield Stands Right Out at Te Awamutu

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 845, 13 December 1929, Page 14

Richfield Stands Right Out at Te Awamutu

Will Richfield be at Te Awamutu tomorrow? A lot of sportsmen are asking themselves that question, for there is of course something hinging on it. There is always something at stake in the racing game. Richfield is, or was, trained up to a month ago by G. Edgecombe at Hawera for Mr. W. Patterson. The Waipa correct card indicates that he is now trained by J. Patterson for the same owner. For that matter it is immaterial who now trains the gelded son of Acre and Pergola. The real point at issue is, will he be on hand tomorrow? Richfield has been paid up for in the Orakau Hack tomorrow, in which he is on the same mark as Kawainga, a mare who, on her performances to date, is not in the same street. That points to Richfield being something out of the ordinary, and he assuredly is. Having heard a good deal about this hack last summer, the writer did not see him in action until the Feilding autumn meeting last season. and believe it or not, it was something out of the ordinary that made him look long and hard. Richfield was in a fair field of hacks in a five and a-half furlong sprint. He was off the course most of the way, and then in the short straight he swooped on the leaders and collared them as if they had stringhalt. At the finish he won by two lengths, having been pulled up to a walk. The opposition was well and truly outclassed. In his next outing, at Hawera, it was universally agreed that his rider got licked on a certainty, the race being fired away. Six weeks ago Richfield was produced in the hack races at Trentham, finishing fourth the first day and winning the second day by nearly a length from Royal Parade and Clarendon, both good hacks to whom he was conceding 171 b and 31b, respectively. Clarendon has won since then. Next at Riccarton. There Richfield was produced in the Linwood Handicap, in which he carried top weight, 9.0. He was only beaten a nose by Disorder at the end of this seven furlongs. On the final day of the meeting he carried 9.3, aijd was fourth over the same ground to Vali, Blue Metal and Make Up, three useful hacks. Tak-

ing a lino through Vali. to whom Richfield was conceding lSlb and finished within two lengths of him, the Tara-naki-owned gelding is more than useful. In tomorrow’s Orakau Hack Handicap, Richfield is set to carry only 171 b above the minimum, or to be precise, S.lO, with the lowest weight 7.7. On the faco of it, and having regard to the fact that tomorrow’s fleld is probably about a stone weaker than the hack fields he performed so well against at Riccarton, and Trentham, too. Richfield must be given a great show. Had he been given 9.10 that would only have been on a par with this impost the last day at Riccarton. when he ran fourth with 9.3, the mimimum being 7.0. Indeed, he now looks the best of good things. This docs not say that Richfield will win. There’s many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, and the most likely thing to furnish the pretext for such a slip is the conformation of the course, for it is such as to require a horse being well placed all the way. It is not even known if Richfield will start tomorrow. If he doesn’t his owner will be throwing away a glorious chance, one that may not come his way again. The Acre gelding is engaged next Wednesday in the much more valuable Nolan Hack Cup at Hawera, in which race his weight is the same as that of Te Awamutu, with the minimum half a stone lower in the Taranaki race. And the class at Hawera is probably 50 per cent, better than in the Waipa event. In the original list of weights for the Orakau Hack Handicap Leitrim was awarded 10.3, and askdd to concede Richfield 211 b. There is probably no hack in the country that could give Richfield anything like a stone in weight, with the horses concerned both fit and well. The Leitrim party were wise not to try and attempt it, for even the open sprint will be an easier task for him. Over seven furlongs there would not be much between Leitrim and Richfield at even weights. Whether Richfield wins or loses tomorrow, he stands out as the best bet of the day. It would almost he worth while bringing him up from Taranaki (if still trained there) and taking him back to Hawera for the Nolan Hack Cup.