DISAPPOINTING TEAM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 898, 15 February 1930, Page 14

DISAPPOINTING TEAM

RICCARTON TRAINER HAS NO LUCK DUNEDIN SIDELIGHTS Special to THE SUN DUNEDIN, Friday. Tha Riccarton trainer, F. D. Jones, whose principal patron is Mr. H. A. Knight, chairman of the Canterbury Jockey Club, must have felt disappointed after the first day’s racing Perhaps his chief hope was Paquito, who contested the Cup, but Gay Crest, Marsham, Dunraven and Coroner, other members of his string, also failed to materialise. Their failure cost backers a pretty penny. Paquito ran a sound race in the Dunedin Cup, and was close up at the end, but his effort further emphasised the weakness of Australian handicappers this season. He never looked better than when he paraded for Thursday’s race, and even though he had every chance he missed a place. Perhaps his form has deteriorated slightly since he occupied a close third to Loquacious in the A.J.C. Metropolitan and second to Nightmarch in the Melbourne Cup, and unless he makes a vast improvement it is very unlikely that he will be a visitor to .Sydney in the autumn. Jones also nominated Marsham for the big autumn handicaps at Randwick, while Dunraven, brother to Limerick, was engaged in the Champagne Stakes, but it is now certain that the trip will be abandoned. Gay Crest was thought to hold excellent prospects in. the Trial Stakes'* at least the public thought so, as they sent him to the post a firm favourite, but the Aus-tralian-bred gelding managed to get only third. Still that effort was promising, and but for steering an erratic course down the straight he might have been second and The Viscount fir st, while the ultimate winner. Quin - opal, might have had to be content with a third placing. . Popular Win Notwithstanding that she was an outsider, Queen Balboa’s victory in the Dunedin Cup was most popular. She is the first horse hailing from Southland to succeed in the important Wingatui handicap but/all doubts as to her quality were put to rest when she fought out a wonderful finish down the straight with Circulation. Apart from showing that she is first-class up to a mile and a-half at least, the Southerner also displayed marked determination, a trait which is noticeable in most of the progeny of Balboa, who by the way was a first-class horse himself, winning the New Zealand Derby and New Zealand St. Leger. Queen Balboa was turned out in excellent condition by the popular Southern Fred Ellis, and T. Green gave** an excellent display of horsemanship. At one time Circulation actually had her head in front of the winner, but Green was more virile than apprentice F. E. Ingram, and in the last few strides he fairly lifted Queen Balboa. The Invercargill horseman L. J. Ellis has scored many notable successes during his career, but he was most unfortunate in not being astride the Dunedin Cup winner on Thursday. He had been engaged to ride the mare, but at the Tapanui meeting he was involved in an accident that has kept him out of the sa'ddle since. However, he was present at Wingatui on Thursday, but only as a spectator, and he helped to cheer home Queen Balboa, who is trainee! by his brother, Fred Ellis. Gesture the Best An outstanding feature of two-year-old racing this season has been the strange inconsistency of the juveniles. Gesture is the only youngster who has continued her superiority from one success to another, and she is entitled to rank as the best of her age. Of course she met Praise off colour in the Foal Stakes at Ellerslie, but as the latter failed to resuscitate herself in the Champagne Stakes on Thursday, it is difficult to make a comparison of the two youngsters. Praise certainly would have taken a. deal of beating had she left the barrier. Indeed as things turned out she may 1 ' have scored decisively, but it was with feelings of ill content that her admirers saw her whip round when the barrier rose. It is to be hoped that one of such outstanding promise escapes any ill effects from her latest and i<: sll e contests the Middle Park Plate at Riccarton next Saturday, it will be made plain whether she has developed bad barrier habits or whether, she was in a too-playful mood at Wingatui. If old Count Cavour had won the Cup on Thursday it would have been the signal for a mighty outburst of enthusiasm from the multitude, but J. he Count” never looked a winner at any stage, and eventually finished several lengths behind the placed horses. ± here was really no* disgrace in his performance and it is unlikely that his connections would be very disappointed by the effort. Count Cavour is one of a number of gallopdrs who cannot slibw his best form on a hardened track and in Thursday’s race he failed to show the dash that enabled him to run a close third to Concentrate and Star Stranger in the Auckland Cup and win the Auckland Racing. Club Handicap in brilliant style. The outing is not likely to hurt him, however, and if trainer T. H. Gillett can keep the Solferino gelding in his best form there is no saying that he will not have a good chance in the Great Autumn Handicap. Amor is a very sluggish worker on the track. Indeed, he seldom shows good form in track trials, bu-t that he is a very determined galloper with the colours up he once again 'showed on Thursday, when he was narrowly beaten in the Cup for third place. Glare, Amor, Latin Quarter and Paquito practically crossed the line abreast, and the judge must have been confronted with a difficult task in separating the quartet. Amor is in excellent form at present, and he looks a vastly different horse from the Amor that raced at Ellerslie at the Auckland Cup carnival, and unless good judges are astray the Archery gelding will soon notch a middle distance handicap. Nightmarch in Good Health Nightmarch could not have looked in better health when he. was paraded before the public on Thursday and those who had not seen the colt since he scored in the Dunedin Cup twelve months ago were greatly surprised with the way in which he has furn-. ished. He has developed into a magnificent specimen of a thoroughbred, and critics are unanimous in the opinion that the colt is vastly improved. General opinion is that he will score decisively in the James Hazlett Gold Cup today, but there are a few hard heads remembering Limerick’s sensational defeat by Aussie last year, who do not regard him as an unbeatable certainty. Meadow Lark is a horse that is being looked to by some people to overthrow the champion, their contention being that Nightmarch may not be sufficiently forward to do himself justice, but by the time these notes appear in print the result of the weight-for-age event will be known. Nightmarch goes back to Riccarton next week and on Saturday he will be paraded at the C.J.C. meeting and is to gallop over a sprint journey. Later A. McAulay will take the champion over to Randwick, where no doubt the Sydney Cup and weight-for-age events will be his mission. The successive failures of favourites at Wingatui on Thursday left a bad flavour in most punters’ mouths, and when Praise failed to leave the barrier

in the Champagne Stakes their troubles weer greatly added to. It Js the general opinion that the daughter of Limond and Eulogy would have won had she got away, but it would not be just to detract any merit from the win of Compensation. The Anomaly colt certainly won well, but his rivals represented very low class, and the time for the six furlongs was hardly fast in comparison, with the times registered by winners of other events. Compensation, however, is the makings of a really good galloper. He won a double at the Dunedin Jockey Club’s summer meeting, showing much promise, but it is too early yet to say whether he is a pronounced stayer or not. tie was going on well at the end of Thursday’s race, but how he would have shaped with Praise is purely a matter of conjecture. Pangolin Out of Form Pangolin gave a very inferior display of hurdling in the Autumn Hurdles on Thursday. Not one fence did he jump correctly, and as his rider said after the race, the Panmure gelding is suffering “loss of form.” Early in the spring Pangolin gave promise of developing into a high-class hurdler, but his recent displays have been very moderate. Something radical is wrong with the horse and his latest efforts have been too bad to be true, and it would not be surprising* if his connections give him a short spell. The conclusion to be arrived at after Greenaway’s failure in the Publicans’ Handicap on Thursday is that our weight-for-age horses are not nearly so. good as we think. Greenaway beat the Royal Stakes field at Ellerslie after conceding the leaders a start at the straight entrance in remarkable style, and as she a novice up to the time she contested that race it seemed only logical to conclude that she was a champion in the making who would outstrip the second-rate field she was opposed to at Wingatui, but the daughter of Sutala and Greenstreet ran poorly. Her performance was unconvincing owing to the absence of her former brilliance, and it may not be wise to condemn the filly for this failure. Rin Tin Tin finished very stoutly to gain third place in the chief sprint event at Wingatui on Thursday, and it is apparent, that the son of Some Boy 11. is reaching his best form again. His speed when at top is unquestioned and it may. not,be long before he re-enters the winning list. Some Boy 11., his sire, is represented by some speedy gallopers, including Aspiring and Mosaic.