CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 August 1939, Page 11

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

Defaulter and Ajax to Meet this Spring CLASH BETWEEN CHAMPIONS WILL BE GREAT DRAW SYDNEY RACEGOERS UNLIKELY TO SEE SUPREMACY TESTS (BY “CARBINE.”) “New Zealand’s wonder horse, Defaulter, and Australia's marvel, Ajax, who missed each other in the weight-for-age races last autumn, will clash this spring, but Sydney racegoers are unlikely to see the supremacy tests,” writes A. W. Dexter, in the Sydney “Sun and Guardian.” “Heavy tracks have retarded Ajax’s preparation, and 1 am not keen on a Sydney trip. At present I don’t think he will be leaving Melbourne this spring,” declared Ajax’s trainer, Frank Musgrave.

"I wonder if Defaulter and Ajax will ever meet at a mile and a half? But if they don’t, I will be willing to tackle Ajax at shorter distances in Melbourne,” declared F. A. Roberts, trainer of Defaulter, in an interview in Sydney.

“They all think they can beat my horse —until they meet him. Ajax will be here to take on all comers,” smiled Musgrave, when told that Roberts was not averse to tackling Ajax at comparatively short distances.

Roberts does not boast that Defaulter will beat Ajax. He has too high an opinion of the Australian champion for that. But he is confident that Defaulter is a better horse than when in Australia last autumn, and that he will give Ajax the races of his life.

‘‘At the shorter distances, I would sooner that Defaulter meets Ajax in Melbourne. I think he is a better horse galloping the left-handed way as in Victoria,” said Roberts.

“Before he raced at Randwick last autumn he had only raced twice righthanded, and he showed a tendency to hang out. In Melbourne I am certain he will run straight.”

Musgrave says that Ajax’s spring campaign will probably be restricted to weight-for-age races in Melbourne, but nothing definite will be decided until after his first race.

Defaulter has settled down perfectly at Randwick, and he will be a fit horse when he tackles the Warwick Stakes.

Roberts agrees with close watchers of the horse that he does not carry quite as much weight as when he first came to Sydney before the autumn.

“This time I did a lot more long work with him before leaving New Zealand, and he is well forward in condition. I do not anticipate any trouble in. getting him to. his top,” said the trainer. Defaulter is one of the tallest horses in training. Several months ago Roberts measured him at 16.3, and he believes that Defaulter is now 17 hands.