All Aged Stakes Carries an Open Appearance

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 955, 24 April 1930, Page 14

All Aged Stakes Carries an Open Appearance

The Classic Contest at Avondale

Twelve months ago there was witnessed in the Avondale All-Aged Stakes a Titanic struggle between those two brilliant two-year-olds. Gay Ballerina and Eaglet, and the speedy Aussie. Is there anything in next Saturday's race to come 1 up to the standard of any one of this trio? Regretfully one must answer that j question in the negative. True, there j is Paganelli. and of course Eaglet is engaged again. But in regard to Paganelli his form of late has not been so outstanding as it was earlier In the season; he appears to have struck a ! bad patch. Then Eaglet has had her racing of j late, except for the Franklin sprint j seven weeks ago, confined to longer [ journeys, and no doubt this has im- j paired her speed. With next Saturday’s All-Aged Stakes carrying such an apparently open appearance—it may present an entirely different aspect when the horses are saddled up—there is the material for a surprise. That brings one back to the most surprising result of all in this race sine© it was inaugurated a few years back. Reremoana was then at the top of his form, and yet he had to strike -his colours to Oration. Even now some sportsmen are wondering how this result came about; but it’s racing. Another surprising result, but of an i altogether different nature, was when those two brilliant Wanganui sprint- • er%. Tamatete and Thespian (the con- j queror of Gloaming at Ellerslie in the j Islington Plate, run in then record • time), ran a dead-heat. Both were i sons of Absurd. The Older Horses The composition of the field for next : Saturday is but vaguely known, but i perhaps with two days still to go before the race there might not be muen change from those that are eligible to go to the post. Five out of the eight are two-year-olds, the older division being represented by Paganelli, Lady Quex and Eaglet. Paganelli would have a chance here to make amends for past failures if one could give an absolute guarantee that the course will be hard and fast.

| Lady Quex in Taranaki that they ! her out genuinely backed to beat Pac* nelli in the Taranaki Stakes in the lati' ; summer of last racing season. or • course she failed, for she caught the T e Rapa galloper at his best. Further-< more. Lady Quex had not settled down" and even now she is inclined to ha flighty, although she is more solid than hitherto. Will she be capable of ! pulling it off on Saturday? Eaglet’s Chance Even now Eaglet holds a strong winI ning chance, for the big course at the suburban centre will be all in her fav- ! our. There is nothing wrong with her J condition, and it was a pretty good one in My Own that downed the Chief Ruler filly in the Oaks last week. Perhaps Eaglet will credit her popular owner. Mr. F. Earl, K.C., with another weight-for-age event. But she is now | within 41b. of Paganelli. Running in the same colours is Hard Words, a smart two-year-old that is endowed with abundance of speed. His form last Saturday in the Champagne Stakes was too bad to be true, for h» is capable of hanging on longer than he did in Cylinder’s race. Consequent upon that failure, however, it is more than likely that the stable will ones again rely upon Eaglet, despite \hc fact that she will have to carry the full penalty. Other Youngsters King Ford, Chrysology and Wild Time have not yet shown sufficient to j justify their being placed among th«* possibles. In any case Chrysology doe-* not appear to run two races alike—he i failed rather badly against Gesture at Riccarton last Monday—and it «s practically certain that he will not be : iiere. The stable possibly shelters 4 better youngster in Courtesy, but uni fortunately this full sister to Honour ! is not engaged. Two-year-olds make rather sharp improvement at this time ; of the year, so perhaps one is not altogether wise in ruling out definitely any ! one of them. Promising Youngsters That leaves for discussion a very promising two-year-old, Green Linnet., Green Linnet gave some smart youngsters a start and a beating at Ellerslie last Monday, and on that showing ought to be given consideration, especially if she is likely to improve. Indeed, she may be the pick of the two-year-olds. Summed up, the All-Aged Stakes this time can be regarded as a most interesting contest, made more so on account of the open nature of the race. Probably the four that will be most fancied are Paganelli. Lady Quex and Eaglet of the older horses, and Green Linnet of the two-year-olds. T'n« final word is given in the review of the whole programme.