TURF NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 October 1940, Page 3

TURF NEWS AND NOTES

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

New Zealand Cup Prospects

(BY

"THE GRAFTER”)

The publication of the weights for the New Zealand Cup aroused interest in the forthcoming big event. As was anticipated, Royal Chief once again heads the list with the same weight as he had last year, 9.6. The second on the list, Willie Win, has 8.12, or 4lb more than he had last year, when he did not start. Both horses have raced well over two miles, and even at this stage, with an unusual number of proved stayers in the field, it will be difficult‘to go past them as likely formidable candidates. Capricious, who ran second to Yours Truly last year, on the minimum, has 9lb more to carry this year, while Dictate, third with 7.5, has been dropped to 7.3 following a long period of unsuccessful racing. The Buzzer with 8;6, and Yogi with 8.5 are two North Islanders already mentioned as possibilities, and Beau Repaire, a half-brother by Beau Pere to Royal Chief, is handily placed w?th 8.1. The racing in the next few weeks will have an important bearing on the prospects of the various candidates, but in the meantime, there is no doubt that Royal Chief, Willie Win, Beau Repaire, and The Buzzer will be included in the list of early possibilities.

A comparison of the weights allotted horses handicapped for last year’s and this year’s Cup is as follows:—

A Splendid Record. The success of Silver Streak at Oamaru on Saturday aroused marked enthusiasm, and the veteran was cheered when he returned, and again when he left the birdcage. It was announced after he unsuccessfully contested the Waikouaiti Cup on New Year’s Day that he had finished racing, but after a spell through the winter on his owner’s property in North Otago, he showed signs of being sound once more, and it was decided a few weeks ago to put him into work again. Although he appeared as fit as any of the other candidates when doing his preliminary, and was the only Oamaru-trained candidate in the T.A. Munro Handicap, he was allowed to go out as the outsider, and he paid the biggest dividend of the day. Silver Streak did not display any of his previous lameness which was invariably manifest after a race, and it is now intended to carry on with him, and he will probably . be seen out again at Washdyke- next month. It is a coincidence that the 11-year-old gelding won the Munro Handicap 1 at Kurow seven years ago, and was second to Thermidor in last year’s Kurow Cup. His previous success to Saturday’s was when .he deadheated with Norseman at Gore 11 months ago. In all, Silver Streak has contested 154 races, and has been in the money on no less than 75 occasions, his record being 28 wins, 24 seconds, and 23 thirds. There have been several outstanding gallopers claiming 1 Paper Money as their sire, but there is no doubt that Silver Streak- has been the best all-rounder, winning races from five furlongs to a mile and a quarter, while he had the distinction of running third to Cerne Abbas and Wild Chase in the 1937 New Zealand Cup.

Nightbeam Unpopular. Although a hostile demonstration greeted the success of Nightbeam in the Rowley Mile at Rosehill on Saturday, the stewards did not consider an investigation into the horse’s form was necessary. Nightbeam started at double-figure odds. At Randwick the previous week, Nightbeam finished last of the seven runners in the A.I.F. Handicap, seven furlongs, won by Geebung. On that occasion the track was soft. “Because earlier I had suspected Nightbeam might not do well in heavy going—he swings a foreleg slightly in galloping —I was not prepared to accept his A.I.F. Handicap showing as his true form,” said Mr Hughes to a Sydney Sunday Telegraph reporter. “Nightbeam will start in the Australian Derby.”

1939 1940 Royal Chief . 9 G 9 6 Willie Win . 8 8 8 12 Peerless . 8 4 8 2 Siegmund . 8 4 8 1 Sly Fox . 3 2 8 0 Thermidor . 7 11 7 12 Capricious . 7 0 7 9 Passaform . 7 1 7 8 Wagner . 7 2 7 G Swordstick . 7 0 7 5 Dictate . 7 5 7 3 The Wrecker . 7 0 7 2 Mishna . 7 0 7 2 Entail . 7 4 7 0 Settlement . 7 3 7 0 Colonel Bogey ... . 7 0 7 0 Auto Sweep . 7 0 7 0