OVER THE FENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 862, 4 January 1930, Page 10

OVER THE FENCE

BUT NOT QUITE WHY KNIGHTLIKE FAILED It is not very often that jockey H. Goldfinch is seen in association with horses trained by J. TI. Jefferd, but the Takaninin horseman was given the mount on Knightlike in the open sprint the last day at Ellerslie. Goldfinch will have good reason to remember that ride, for even if he did not win he at least got a real thrill : on the trip. Knightlike drew the ace, but did not possess sufficient pace to retain that advantage, and gradually drifted back, until at the home turn he was conceding the leaders a fair start, j Still adhering like sticking plaster to the inside position, Goldfinch gradually began to make up his ground in the straight. In the meantime, Leitrim and Awarere had gone over to the rails and the gap that presented itself at the bottom of the straight did not exist at the distance post. Prior to that there was room for one horse to get through. It was for that very gap that Goldfinch made a dive with Knightlike, and at the exact moment that Leitrim and Awarere appeared to swing back toward the rails. Knightlike was starting to travel fast, and the result was that he was on top of the horses in front before he knew where he was. With the majority of horsemen there would probably have been a crash to record, but cool headed as ever, Goldfinch steadied up and soon had his mount balanced again. In the meantime the horses in front had gone ahead with an uninterrupted run, whereas Knightlike dropped back when liq met with the interference, and fifth was the best he could do. Knightlike was all but put over the fence when he collided with the horse in front, and yet at the time he was going like a probable winner. The Paladin gelding is a good sort, now coming right, and is likely to develop into a first-rate sprinter. He won his first race as a two-year-old in the Debutante Stakes at Wanganui nearly two and a-half years ago, this being the first two-year-old race of each new season. After that he went right off, but so far this season he has run some splendid races, and is good enough to be ticked off as the winner of a good sprint in the very near future. It is remarkable how horses go off when they race with conspicuous suca cess in the early spring. Take the winners of the Wanganui Debutante Stakes. Simba won this event last spring, and followed it up with another at Hastings a fortnight later, and then went right off. So far from becoming a top-notclier this two-year-old has performed but moderately. Then there is Eaglet, who was carrying all before her in the spring. She failed in the Derby, and on Thursday she ga.ve a most disappointing showing in the Royal Stakes, and quite apart from the fact that she received a severe check at the distance it was apparent that she was not as good as in the spring.