Form Pointers

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 857, 28 December 1929, Page 12

Form Pointers

GUIDE TO HORSES RUNNING AT ELLERSLIE ON MONDAY NEXT

NEWCOMERS FROM AWAPUNI

Among the horses accepted for at Ellerslie on Monday is Seatown, who raced at Awapuni on Boxing Bay.

Richfield will not have any smart three-year-old like Vali to oppose him in the Fergusson Handicap on Monday. The Acre gelding should, run out of the hack class at Ellerslie.

Knocked from pillar to post—Gemlight in the Christmas Handicap the first day. His rider must have thought he was in the earthquake zone on the West Coast. Gemlight was going very well when he got the bumps and the shock of his young life.

In very short hack races Red Lion and Sea Song would be nearly unbeatable. Whert out in front in their division of the Robinson Handicap the first day they actually broke 49 for the first half-mile. Even at that Sea Song finished a close fourth. This daughter of Romeo is going to be real good.

Marble King, ridden to instructions, ran a great race into third place in the Te Awamutu. Had he been allowed to bowl along instead of indulging in a free-for-all with his rider there was a chance that he would

have won. Therefore his showing in the Plunket Handicap on Monday will be closely followed.

On the second day of the Takapuna meeting Polyxena ran Leitrim close in the open sprint. The Chief Ruler filly is very fast, and had she not dwelt at the barrier and received a check on the home turn there might have been a different story to relate. She runs on Monday in the Electric.

Close followers of the Grafton Handicap on Thursday were not surprised when Catonian unshipped his rider at the first fence. ‘Prince Lu rushed to the front with, his usual dash, and when Catonian went with him the worst was feared —and. it happened. Pangolin’s rider displayed better judgment, for he let the Cambridge gelding alone and waited behind.

In the Avondale Stakes, over three months ago, the Takanini-trained Hard Words (Chief Ruler —Mazabuka) showed a torrent of speed for three furlongs and then closed up like a clam. He is in the Criterion Handicap on Monday, and if his stamina has improved he should make it very interesting for the opposition and entertaining for his backers.

The two wins at Woodville of Merry Mint, followed up by a good third in the Egmont Cup last week, combined with the fact that he was one of the leaders into the straight in the Auckland Cup, suggests that the Catmint gelding will be more at home in the Summer Cup next Monday. Apparently a mile and a-quarter is his best distance.

Last Tuesday morning Importer executed a splendid gallop over a mile, and two days later he finished third in the Grafton Hurdles, beaten a neck and half a length. The imported gelding should be all the better for that experience, and he is a likely improver for obstacle events on the later days of the Auckland meeting.

Something in the nature of a Derby trial will be forthcoming in the King’s Plate at Ellerslie on Monday in the meeting of Eaglet and Hunting Cry. The latter has the better performances over a middle journey, for his win in the King Edward Handicap, one and a-quarter miles, at Ellerslie in the spring, and over good handicap horses, was perhaps superior to Eaglet’s New Zealand Oaks victory. If Hunting Cry defeats Eaglet in the King’s Plate he will very nearly have a mortgage on the Berby on New Year’s Bay, with Honour out of the way, as seems likely.

Seatown could not get to Auckland by steamer for the Cup, so he was bundled off to Awapuni, and there he won thb Manawatu Cup. Now he is at Ellerslie and will make an appearance in the Sumpier Cup, in which he has 31b more to carry than when he won on Thursday, with much superior opposition to encounter. Nevertheless, _Xhe Archiestown gelding is so well that he must be given a real good show.

One of the most unlucky horses at Ellerslie on opening day was Buellona. She did not get the best of starts, and coming round the home bend she was well out from the rails, finally finishing fourth right under the judge’s box. The filly could not have been very far behind the third horse. Count Palatine. With a better run this smart three-year-old might have given Vali and Richfield a harder race.

When undergoing his preparation for spring racing at Avondale three months ago Knightlike was galloping over short courses with the best of them, but his backers had to wait some time for a first return. This was at Hawera last week, when the four-year-old beat Cimabue and others in the principal sprint. Knightlike figures on the minimum in the sprint at headquarters on Monday, and it will be interesting to see if his improvement has continued.