NEARLY DESTROYED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 264, 7 November 1932, Page 12

NEARLY DESTROYED.

CAREER OF FAST PASSAGE. A MYSTERIOUS COMPLAINT. EVENTUALLY YIELDS TO TREATMENT. (By Telegraph.—Special to " Star.") CHRISTCHURCH, this day. It would be difficult to imagine a more romantic tale than is involved in the history of Fast Passage, who scored eueh an easy win in the New Zealand Cup on Saturday. Fast Passage was bred by the, late Sir George Clifford at his Stonyhurst stud. She was not trained for early racing, and had her first outing early in her three-year-old season, being unplaced twice. At the Grand National meeting last year she developed lameness, which became veryapparent after each fast gallop. In the Oaks, when she ran second to Korokio, she was completely knocked out, and was got home only with difficulty. She appeared at this time a hopeless cripple, with no prospects of recovery. A veterinary consultation was held, but the experts disagreed. Sir Charles Clifford, visiting the stables a few days later, said he did not want to see the filly in pain, and ordered her destruction. Albert Cutts and Mr. J. Stafford had formed a theory and begged respite in which their idea might be given a trial. Blood tests disclosed a parasitic infection, but under treatment by injection the filly began to improve. She went to Auckland at Easter, but looked to have broken down when she was pulled up in the Oaks about half a mile from home. Since May, when she had another trial, she has done everything right, and" has won at Ashburton, Dunedin, Riccarton and Trentham, and has shown no trace of unsoundness. Her recovery, which gives every apparance of being permanent, is a tribute to the veterinary skill and care she gets in her stable. One of the happiest of those who watched her win on Saturday was Mr. J, ■.Stafford. . . '