Amounis May yet Head Gloaming

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 914, 6 March 1930, Page 16

Amounis May yet Head Gloaming

HAS NOW WON £36,700 ATTEMPTS THAT FAILED Gloaming - , regarded as the equal of mighty Carbine, was undoubtedly the greatest horse of modern times, and when his Turf career ended he had amassed a huge fortune in stakes. Since he went into retirement his stake-earnings, £ 43,100, have been threatened on occasions by Limerick, .Heroic, Manfred, Mollison and Trivalve, but in turn those brilliant gallopers fell by the wayside in their attempts to overhaul Gloaming's great record. Latest horse to challenge the son of The Welkin’s stake-earnings is Amounis, best miler in Sydney, and regarded as the greatest horse in Australia today. In his pursuit of Gloaming's total he has brought his winnings to the £36,700 mark, making him fifth among Australian stake winners, and it merely seems a matter of theMagpie gelding’s remaining sound to achieve the coveted honour that even Limerick failed to attain, though he was within grasp of Gloaming’s record when he was forced into retirement. Amounia’s achievements since he commenced the present season have been remarkable in many ways, but perhaps his greatest victory was in the X 3,500 Caulfield Futurity Stakes on Saturday week, in which lie carried a 201 b penalty and defeated Australia’s best sprinter, Greenline, who went on to fame and fortune by scoring in the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington last Saturday, carrying top weight. It was no everyday performance on Amounis's part, and apart from revealing that the son of Magpie is in greater form at present than at any other period of his notable career, it also showed forcibly that he is going to make a bold bid to surpass Gloaming’s great record if lie remains sound and retains his present form. A few weeks back he was faced with what appeared to be a stupendous task of reaching Gloaming’s honour, buc success in the Caulfield Futurity added to his winnings considerably and another £7,000 odd will earn him the honour which many brilliant champions have strived for in recent, years. How Consistency Counts Amounis was not what could be termed a high-class horse at three years. His wins, a? that age certainly ombi*aced some notable events, but had he won the rich A..T.C. Derby he would by now have passed Gloaming's total. Victories in the rich two and thrce-year-old classics would have given him an excellent start in lus pursuit of the Canterbury crack’s record, but seemingly Amounis could not stay the Derby distance, and it was not till later in his career that he began to gain stamina Perhaps if Amounis had succeeded in winning all his classic engagements at two and three-years-old he may not have stood up to the severe racing that would have followed those triumphs. Often, a horse that does a lot of strenuous work in his tender years becomes faced with some unsoundness that precludes him from reaching very great heights. The strenuous preparations he is forced to survive for the classics and Melbourne Cup at three years occasionally brings about reaction, and puts a strain on his constitution or vitality that results in retirement early in life. Heroic had a great opportunity of reaching Gloaming’s £43,100. and but for his temporary banishment from the Turf at three years, he probably would have won the tSt. Legers. while it would have taken a gre*it horse to have lowered his colours in the Melbourne Cup. After winning the A.J.C. Derby at Fandwlck in sensational fashion frojn

Spearfelt and Nigger Minstrel his connections incurred the displeasure of racing officials over the Purser case, and a great chance of adding several thousands to his record was robbed when his party was unsuccessful in its appeals against the .disqualification meted out to it. In the circumstances his was a remarkable record, for when he retired his earnings stood at £38.062. Early in his career Heroic was regarded as a freak. People even predicted that he would be blind before reaching three years, but the son of Valais was a horse of tremendous • constitution and stood up to his racing well. Youngsters That Have Failed Rampion, Royal Feast and Mollison began so well as youngsters that they were immediately heralded as champions who would eventually eclipse Gloaming’s total. Royal Feast, however, died before ho was able to race at three years; Mollison’s latest form had not been convincing; and though Rampion won the Derbies and other valuable races he failed to stand up to solid work, and after ’ winning the Bond Cup he broke down. But for leg trouble the son of Rossendale may have been a formidable contender for the honour held by Gloaming for some years. He was superior to Limerick at three years, but a leg ailment closed what appeared to be a most 'promising career.

Limerick was the horse that threatened most danger to Gloaming. The Canterbury crack, after failures at three years, rehabilitated himself to such an extent at four years that he swept almost everything before him. And at five years he was still champion galloper of Australia, but he, too, had to go into retirement. Ho succumbed to hard racing, and doubts are held whether he will ever return, if raced again, to the championship form he showed earlier in his career. He was a great horse, and might easily have disposed of Gloaming's record.

Manfred was a great galloper, probably one of the best horses bred in Australia, and but for a mad streak in him he may have attained unprecedented heights. His A.J.C. Derby victory. in which he was left half a furlong and then won running away by 12 lengths, was the greatest performance ever witnessed in the history of the Rand wick classic. Some people said afterward that he did not beat anything of account, but the fact that Amounis was included in the field, and he was timed to run the mile and a-half from post in 2.2Bjtsec, is sufficient to show the merit of the performance. Manfred’s Stake Earnings On comparatively little racing at two and three years he accumulated £28.830. He was a wonderful horse and looked at in retrospect some of his achievements were amazing. But his barrier shyness'showed that there was something wrong with his make-up. It was on the tracks that he was seen at his very best, and his trainer (H. McCalman), it is said, still speaks of him as the wonder horse fastest probably of any thoroughbred the world ever saw. Nightmarch has done well to earn over £20.000 considering that he won very little money at two and three years. Of course, his success in the A.J.C. Epsom Handicap and Mel - bourne Cup brought his earnings up with a bump, and if the Night Raid colt can continue his superiority at the autumn carnivals in Sydney he will greatly add to his winnings. If he is as good as some of his admirers claim, then he has an outstanding chance of winning the Sydney Cup. despite the fact that he will be heavily weighted in the big Randwick two-mile race.

Then there are the weight-for-age races. He is sure to do well in those events, and if he is greater than Chide. Phar Lap, Amounis and Co., he looks a likely horse to overlap Gloaming’s great record. Nightmarch is almost certain to improve with age. The comparative little racing he did early in his career has not found a weak spot in him. and. being a sound horse, he has several seasons of racing before him.