ARRAY OF TALENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 20

ARRAY OF TALENT.

TRIAL AT ASCOT. INTER-DOMINION ENTRANTS. Never before has a trotting event at Ascot attracted such an array of crack harness horses as the £2.50 Championship Trial, to be run on Monday (says a Melbourne writer). Sixteen pacers were nominated when entries closed last week, including eight candidates for the New Zealand InterDoniinion Championships at Easter. If the champion unhoppled pacer, Lawn Derby, makes the trip from Sydney his meeting with the Victorian, Magician, who is undefeated this season, will be awaited with much interest. Victorian nominations are Bright C#"is, Dan's Son, Judy Pointer, Joy's John, Loco Derby, Magician, Moreica, New Derby, Our Walla, Picador, Prince Dalla, The Gap, and Wanga Pronto, while Lawn Derby, the champion unhoppled pacer of Australia, Marble Bath and Wilveranj represent New South Wales. The secretary of the V- T". and R. A. (Sir Gilbert Dyett) framed the Championship Trial so as to give horses engaged in the New Zealand championships a final try out before the trip across the Taaman, and with the field boasting such horses as Magician (winner at six starts this season), Lawn Derby, Dan's Son, The Gap and Marble Bath, the innovation has been well worth while. Inter-Dominion candidates engaged are Dan's Son, Joy's John, Lawn Derby, Marble Bath, Our Walla, Picador, Wilveranj, and Wonga Pronto. Fast Winning Records. The trial will be run over a mile and a half, and is for horses with a winning record of 2.18 or better. Magician was nominated for the New Zealand championships, but he failed to [ survive the final acceptance. He reI sumed racing only last November, and returned to the winning list at the Bendigo Cup meeting in the Handicap Trot. He subsequently scored in the Association Handicap at Ascot, and at his last staij; won the Richmond Handicap off 12 yards at the same track on February 14. His easy win in the mile and a half race suggested that he will take a good deal of beating in the Championship Trial in which he will meet much stronger opposition.

Lawn Derby has started only twice at Ascot for as many wins. From 96 yards behind he easily won the £300 Pacers' Cup, and then followed an amazing performance from 120 yards behind to defeat the useful pacers, Lulu's Best and Our Walla, in the Trotting £500 in the mile rate record time of 2.8 2-3.

Taken to New Zealand for the Auckland Trotting Cup, Lawn Derby broke and missed a place. He made amends in the President's Handicap three days later, beating Lucky Jack, third in the Auckland Cup and the New Zealand Cup winner, and Willow Wave, the Auckland Cup winner,. His last outing was in an exhibition race in January. He finished third in a field of three. Adelaide Title Winner. Dan's Son won the Inter-Dominion Championship in Adelaide last year, and Mr;' B. Coram, who races, trains and drives the gelding, is keen to give his representative a run before leaving for the Dominion. The Gap, winner of the Melbourne and Sydney Pacers' Derbies last year, has not been seen out since he was unplaced in the Ascot Trotting Cup in the spring. If he is forward enough he is almost certain to run in the Championship Trial. Marble Bath, who did well at the championships in Adelaide but was withdrawn from the final, is one of the best pacers New South Wales has produced, and if he and Wilveranj, the crack four-year-old of his season in Sydney, run at Ascot, they will give tone tc> the already good representation.