LUCKY BOY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 239, 8 October 1932, Page 9

LUCKY BOY.

IRISH SWEEPSTAKE. PRIZE FOR AUCKLAND. TECHNICAL COLLEGE STUDENT £30,000 IF HORSE WINS. Luck has come the way of Master Francis M. Ritchie, an Auckland Technical College boy, aged 15 years. He has drawn Bonny Brighteyes in the Irish sweepstake on the Cesare witch, which will be run at Newmarket, England, next Wednesday.

The prize ' is worth £060, which amount will be considerably increased by the addition of exchange. Should Bonny Brighteyes win the race the prize will be £30,000; if it runs second, £15,000; and if it runs third, £10,000.

A cable announcing the good fortune was received this morning by Mr. F. M. Ritchie, of Cecil Road, Mount Eden, who is well known in Auckland as one of the founders in Auckland of the Association football game. He also had a ticket in the sweepstake, and remarked, "It was the boy's luck, not mine." "Might Buy a Farm." A ring on the telephone from his father told Francis Ritchie of his good luck. He did not even know that he had a ticket in the sweepstake, for it had been bought by his father and had been kept as a secret for the boy. It was the first ticket the boy had owned.

When a "Star" reporter and photographer called at the home of the boy at mid-day his face "was "wreathed in smiles and he "was so excited that he could hardly speak. He was bewildered. "I don't know what I will do with the money," he said. "I might buy a farm later on. Anyway, I'll give dad whatever he wants. He took the ticket out for me." Young Ritchie has always been eager to go on a farm. At present he is a pupil in Agricultural I. at the Technical College. Last year he attended the Royal Oak School, where he was in the Rugby fifteen. This year he played Soccer. / "Yes, I'll put it in the bank," said Francis, "and when the time comes I'll buy a farm." > j Bonny Brighteyes is believed to have a good chance in the Cesarewitch. A four-year-old gelding, it has had three prominent wins on the English and Scottish' turf in recent starts. It has put up very good time over one and a half miles. The Cesarewitch will be run over a distance : of -two and a quarter miles.