WANGANUI CUP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 43, 21 February 1939, Page 4

WANGANUI CUP

Beaupartir’s Reported Defection BEAU PERE COLT MAY DECLINE ENGAGEMENT HIS HANDICAP WAS RIGHT Although Beaupartir figures in the acceptance list for the Wanganui Cup, to be run on Thursday, his trainer, Mrs. A. W. McDonald, of Awapuni, stated at Woodville on Saturday that the Beau Fere colt would not now be a starter. He is, however, to go to New Plymouth, and then he will fulfil his St. Leger engagement at Trentham. If the report that Beaupartir is not to contest the Wanganui Cup proves correct, the race will be robbed of a good deal of interest, though there will still be a useful field for Thursday’s premier event. It cannot be on the score of weight that Beaupartir is to drop out of the Cup field, for being set to carry 8.10 he was placed on his correct mark. Had Defaulter been in the race what weight could he have been given by Mr. H. Coyle, who framed the handicaps for this longdistance event? Certainly not less than 9.3, in view of his easy win in the Wellington Cup under 8.11. The Wellington Cup was run over a mile and a-half, and the distance for the Wanganui Cup is a quarter of a furlong further.

Thus Beaupartir was set to carry cr-a pound less than the weight under which Defaulter succeeded at Trentham. Beaupartir-has won one race only, that being the Queen’s Plate at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, but he has to his credit second placings behind Defaulter in the New Zealand Derby and the Great Northern Derby, and when a weight-for-age performer of Beaupartir’s calibre steps out in handicap company his connections cannot cavil if the handicapper places a high estimate on his ability.

Beaupartir affords a splendid illustration of the risk that an owner takes in racing a horse out of the grade in which it might compete. While still a maiden Beaupartir ran Defaulter to a length in the New Zealand Derby, and a few days after scoring his first success in the A.R.C. Queen’s Plate—his only win to date —he finished second again to Defaulter in the Great Northern Derby, this time running the Defoe colt to less than a length.

In the two Derbies Beaupartir beat all the best of the three-year-olds of the season except Defaulter, who is now known to be a colt right out of the ordinary. In other words, Beaupartir, in any average year, or in even something better than an average year, would now have been winner of both Derbies of the season, and a decisive winner at that.

Among the horses behind Beaupartir in the New Zealand Derby was Peerless, five lengths away, and Gay Son. Those who followed him home in the Great Northern Derby were Peerless (third again), Did Bill, Gay Son, Hot Box (Great Northern Guineas winner), and Philcourt (Avon dale Guineas winner). At a mile and a-half Beaupartir twice proved himself clearly superior to Peerless and Gay Son, and that is a performance that no handicapper could properly overlook. A Line Through Gay Son. It is unnecessary to go to Defaulter to discover what weight Beaupartir should have in the Wanganui Cup. One needs only consider such a horse as Gay Son, who was racing in comparable company recently at Wellington. In the W.R.C. Handicap, 11 furlongs, last month, Gay Son, under 8.5, was beaten only a neck by Lady Montana after having been one of the lead;rs throughout and assuming charge as soon as the field reached the straight. Then on the final clay, under 8.11 in the Summer Handicap, 14 miles, and sent out second favourite, he was unlucky at the start but finished very strongly’ from the back near the close into fifth place. One may form a fair estimate from these efforts where Gay Son would be were h: in the Wanganui Cup field, and on Idgic Beaupartir would have to be weighted at least just above Gay Son. Beaupartir was given 8.10 in the Wanganui Cup, second top weight to Wotan, 9.0, 31b. above last year’s Wanganui Cup winner, Brazen King, and 81b. more than another three-year-old of class, Amigo, who did not survive the .'»’ceptance night. Amigo received 71b. from Gay Son in the W.R.C. Handicap and weakened into fourth place, two positions behind Gay Son, so the line that Mr. Coyle has taken to his rating in the Wanganui Cup is fairly patent. Beaupartir’s Record.

In view of Beaupartir’s assessment in the Wanganui Cup it is of interest to consider the record to date of this three-year-old. He has started eight times, with the following results:— At Two Years. Second, Juvenile Handicap, 4 furlongs, at Napier Park, won by Ivar. At Three Years. Second. Trial Stakes, 7 furlongs, at Wellington, carrying 8.0, won half a length by Lord Cavendish, B.IL Second, Spring Novice Handicap, 7 furlongs, at Wellington, carry 8.5, won half a head by Good Passage, 8.0. Second. Spring Plate. 1 mile, at Canterbury, carrying 7.7, won a neck by’ Disdain, 7.2. Second, New Zealand Derby, 11 miles, carrying 8.10, won a length by Defaulter, 8.10. First, Queen’s Plate, 1 mile, at Auckland, carrying 8.0, and beating Old Bill, 8.0, by a length. Fourth. King’s Plate, w.f.a., 1 mile, carrying 8.2, and beaten by Smoke Screen, Stretto, and Gay Son in a close finish in Dominion record time of Imin. 35 3-ssec. Second, Great Northern Derby, li miles, carrying S.lO, won threequarters of length by Defaulter, 8.10. Beaupartir has won once, and that win alone removed him from hack grade. However, even if Beaupartir were still a maiden, he could not have been given much less than he has in

the Wanganui Cup, because of his seconds in the Derbies, in each of which he beat Peerless and Gay Son decisively. There is always this risk of incurring weight in the best class when owners race horses out of their legitimate grade and fail to achieve their objective, and particularly will the weight come, if ordinary principle of handicapping are followed, when such horses finish in the minor money but are not quite good enough to win.