A Good Test For Nightmarch

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 935, 31 March 1930, Page 14

A Good Test For Nightmarch

A.J.C. PLATE, 21 MILES PHAR LAP AND CHIDE IN IT Before the Melbourne Cup, it was generally accepted Phar Lap would run two miles, comments a Sydney writer. After his failure to win that race, doubt was thrown upon him as a stayer. In the V.R.C. King’s Plate recently he settled the. question by winning in a canter by 20 lengths, and doing the two miles in 3.25. As a staying effort it was so good that those racing men who have been inclined to decry Phar Lap will have to fall back on the old query of “What did he beat?’' They did so with Strephon, notwithstanding there is not much room to fault a horse that loses its opponents and makes fast time. It is certain Phar Lap will be at his I best in Sydney, and though Night- ! march ran away from Phar Lap at the j finish of the Melbourne Cup, he will ! find him a different proposition in the : A.J.C. Plate, despite the extra quarter- • mile. Pace Will Be On ! In his last two races Phar Lap has ! shown to advantage when allowed to ! bowl along. No doubt he will be sirni- . larly ridden in the A.J.C. Plate, and it will be a fair test between him and Nightmarch as to superiority as a stayer. The first mile of the Melbourne Cup took 1.481, but it is fairly certain that in the A.J.C. Plate Phar Lap will take Nightmarch along much faster than that. In the Melbourne Cup Nightmarch carried 9.2 to Phar Lap’s 7.0. In the A.J.C. Plate their respective weights ! will bo 9st and 7.13. The weight-for-age scale allows for 101 b improvement in Phar Lap since November, and none in Nightmarch. Chide may also enter into calculations in the A.J.C. Plate. His ex-owner is credited with believing he may run two miles in 3.20. If he is capable of doing that, ho will probably beat Phar Lap and Nightmarch. Form’s Guide In New Zealand Chide did everything asked of him in the spring, but he carried only 7.4 in the New Zealand Cup, and probably the best weight-for-age horse he beat was Honour, whom he i outstayed in the Stead Cup, one mile and a-quarter. In the A.J.C. Derby Honour did not have the slightest chance against Phar Lap at any part of the last three furlongs. Therefore, through Honour, Chide’s best form does not place him ahead of Phar Lap. An interesting race for the A.J.C. Plate will be a pleasant change. The last two were won by hot favourites, Limerick starting at odds on, and Strephon at a regular Gloaming price. ROSEHILL WINNERS TRUE SHAFT BY A HEAD i United P.A. —JJg Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, Sunday. , At the Rosehill meeting yesterday | the leading event resulted as follows: ROSEHILL CLUB HANDICAP Of £250; 1 mile 3 fur. | NEW SWEET. 7.5, Hickey 1 RIONSCUP, 8.9, Ryan 2 CRUCIS, S.lO, Cook 3 Fourteen started. New Sweet won by a head. Tidul was last. Time, 2.22. HIGH-WEIGHT HANDICAP Of £250; 7 fur. Second Division TRUE SHAFT (N.Z.), 8.3, Reed .... 1 MALVINA, 9.0, Cook 2 LUITA, 9.10, Cracknell 3 Ten started. True Shaft won by a head. Time, 1.26.