CAUSED GREAT STIR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1939, Page 11

CAUSED GREAT STIR

Biplane—Desert Gold Clash. Early in 1918 all sporting enthusiasts were agog in expectation of the meeting between two great horses, Desert Gold and Biplane, but the clash, which was to have been staged at Awapuni, did not materialise. Patrons were actually fated to learn on the course that one of the stars of the contest had been withdrawn overnight. Not unnaturally a cry of rage issued from a packed' crowd believing itself to have been befooled, but after all, neither owner nor trainer had committed a breach of the rules governing the sport. Events later showed Biplane was not himself, and he proved to be a complete failure when he passed from the hands of his astute trainer. An Australian-bred horse by Comedy King (son of Persimmon, and winner of the Melbourne Cup) from Air Motor, Biplane was purchased by the Canterbury sportsman Mr G. D. Greenwood, as a yearling, and he did all his two-year-old racing in the Dominion. At his first outing he ran second to Simonides in the Welcome Stakes at Riccarton, but won the C.J.C. Juvenile Plate at his next start. His one unplacing of the season came in the Electric Plate, when Tete-a-tete, Bimenter. and Hymestrason filled the places, but he made amends by beating Hymestrason in the Great Northern Foal Stakes. Bisogne beat him in the A.R.C. Royal Stakes, and Hymestrason again turned the tables in the Kelburn Plate at Trentham. He wound up his activities for the term with a clear-cut win in the Middle Park Plate at Riccarton. He was taken as a three-year-old back to the land of his birth, and he there won the Rosehill Guineas. A.J.C. Derby, Craven Plate, Victoria Derby, and Linlithgow Stakes, these races being decided over varying distances. In the Craven Plate he accounted for another mighty New Zealander, Sasanof, who had previously won the Melbourne Cup. Following upon his return to the Dominion with honours thick upon him. he captured the Jackson Stakes at Wanganui, but suffered defeat by Estland in the Wanganui Guineas. Then followed his late defection from the Awapuni Gold Cup field that was productive of such a storm of indignation. However, it was plainly evident to Biplane’s trainer that the horse was not himself and it was on R. J. Mason’s judgment that Mr Greenwood decided to forgo the important engagement. The right to do so was plainly questioned by the world at large, and swayed by the “storm around their ears,” the stewards of the Manawatu Club took an action they must have regretted later. Although Biplane wound up the season with a success in the C.J.C. Challenge Stakes, wherein his earlier rival,. Hymestrason. was unplaced, it was the last race he won. Thus Biplane retired from the Turf in very modest fashion after having had the crown of fame rest, if somewhat uncertainly, upon his head, and although he has been represented by winners across the Tasman, none have reached the same pinnacle of fame.