NOT SO GOOD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1937, Page 13

NOT SO GOOD.

MERRY MATHEW FAILS. When Merry Mathcw won three races in «tyli«h fashion in the spring, it was thought bv many good judges, not all of them Yorkshiremen, that the Middleham the best of his igv, and regret was ex preened that he was not engaged in the classics. It seems that the son of Truculent was flattered by thene opinion*. None of the three-year-olds which he defeated at Liverpool, Chester and York was good enough to gain a place in any of the classics, and when he reappeared, after a three months' re*t, at York in September he was beaten into fourth place by Mange Tout, Chuinleigh and Frawn. Excuses were made on the, grounds that Merry Mathew was in need of a race, and slight odds were laid on him for the Scottish Derby at Ayr a little later. At a difference of 81b he was fairly beaten by Sultan Mahomed, w;lio was not in the first ten in the fit. Leger. «

There were only four runners, and it was surprising that the Ascot Handicap winner Azam Pasha was better backed than Sultan Mahomed (says an English writer). Nevett was content to lie last for three furlongs. He sent Merry Mathew alongside Sultan Mahomed approaching the bend, and from that point it was a neck-and-neck race. Entering the. straight, Merry Mathew looked like getting the better of it. but Smirke rode a great finish, and his effort* were courageously seconded by "The Sultan." Weight told on Merry Mathew in the end. and he was beaten by three-part* of a length.