SEBISCA’S RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1054, 19 August 1930, Page 12

SEBISCA’S RECORD

OLD TROTTER STILL GOING STRONG A CAREFUL TRAINER Of the older brigade of souar®. gaited horses still in commission few have weathered the storm of lengthy service better than sebisca. After 11 seasons' activity the aged son of Harold Dillon is' still going as strong as the wellknown Johnny Walker for his patient and popular owner, George MitThe old trotter lias had a sueeess- | ful career at the racing game, and a ! remarkable feature of his activftfce which extend over sc many jears. jV that in the autumn of his existent Sebisca is displaying as much enerr and certainly mure ballast as at arr period of his racing. The credit for this is due to the care and attention bestowed upon tii© square-gaiter br his owner-trainer, who was a gres: believer in racing in moderation Sebisca was never at any stage overraced. as will be seen from the far. that in 11 years he started 88 time* an average of eight contests per annum. In looking through Sebisca’s records Abaydos’ found that for two seasons ho was almost unheard of. In I&24I 25 only twice did George Mitchell take his trotter to the races, while the following season he only sported silk on one occasion. His Best Year Sebisca’s best season was when he accounted for the Hiilabro Trot at the Auckland spring meeting This he followed up at the Otahuhu spring meeting with success in the Campbell Trot, being chased home by Mutu, and again at the Auckland summer carnival he won the Association Trot, in which Tradesman was runnerup. Like Sebisca. Mutu and Tradesman are still taking an active par. in light harness proceedings. That season Mitchell collected £9sa in stake money. The Harold Dillon gelding first carried the green-and-gold livery in ISIS, but in half a dozen starts he failed to return a dividend. Prior to beins acquired by G.T.M., Sebisca was domiciled in one of the provincial townships, where he was being used as a hack by Joe Dowding. A Road Champion. Discussing the earlier history of the irotter with the writer recently, Dowdng said he had Sebisca as a five-year-old, and on the road nothing had a chance with him. Joe related a backblock story of how Sebisca “took down” the champion trotter of that part of the district in a test of speed ?nd samina, and how the boys from away back later sent their savings to Auckland to back the road-trained trotter against the elite of Potter’s Paddock, without meeting with any return. It was shortly after this that Mitchell got his eye on Sebisca, and secured what turned out, as time went on, to be a good bargain. In tie autumn of 1921 the Harold IMllon trotter won a double at the Auckland carnival. It is a coincidence that during the greater portion of his racing career Sebisca scored his successes either in the autumn or winter, demonstrating that he wanted the sting out of the ground to give of his best. In the 1923-24 season Mitchell* candidate won £315 in prize money, tnd then fell upon lean times. in 1926-27 his owner took on a Souther, jaunt, the trotter appearing at Addington and For bury Park, but without getting anything to pay expenses. Rejuvenation Two years later, when well on in his teens, Sebisca acquired a new lease of life, and at Te Aroha he surprised his opponents and the public by romp-

ing home in a mile and a-half heat. Later, at the Auckland winter meeting, he won the Royal Trot, beating Dipnoi by a head, to pay almost another score. Recently, at the Epsom June fixture, the old fellow repeated the performance, this time beating Akenehi by a similar narrow margin. The last seasons saw* his winnings total £6BO. As previously stated, Sebisca, during his 11 years’ racing, has competed in SS events, his placed record being nine firsts, 12 seconds, and six thirds. In prize money he has collected the creditable tally of £2,500, while on several occasions his dividends have been of an expansive nature. Sebisca was foaled in the South in 1913, being by that great sire Harold Dillon from Alice Wood, a "Wildwood mare thathrew back in a direct line to Hambletown. Alice Wood was first mated with Stronghold, a galloping sire, and tiien she produced to Harold Dillon. Lucille, Kleitos, and finally the hero of this story. Sebisca has certainly not discredited his parentage, and although now 17 years of age, the sturay old square-gaiter looks to have an* other season or two of usefulness be* fore him.