VERSATILE HORSEMAN

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 164, 14 July 1939, Page 12

VERSATILE HORSEMAN

A. E. ELLIS' CAREER. SUCCESS ON SURVOY. LUCKY WIN AT TRENTHAM. Among horsemen actively engaged in the riiiing profession, the palm for versatility must surely go to A. I-;. ("Bert") Kllis, who last week followed up his victory in the Creat Northern Steeplechase on Survov with another success on the chestnut in the Wellington Steeplechase (says the Wellington writer "Ariki Tiki"). Ellis iias ridden the winners of most of the important events in the Dominion over hurdles, over country, in flat handicaps and in classics, together with several events in Australia. Commenting upon liis winning ride in the Wellington Steeplechase, Kllis said it was indeed a lucky victory that Survov gained. "Few horses could have stood up after going through the first brush fence of the double as Survov did," said Kllis. '"As a matter of fact 1 thought he was sure to come down, but he is a clever little fellow, and although we onlv scrambled over th<' second of the double it was all that was required. "It must have taken half a stone out of him, ami 1 was far from confident that lie could overcome that mishap and then win. However, once he settled down to his work again he swung along very easily, and although lie must have been at least fifteen lengths from the leaders as we raced into the back stretch the last time. I then thought that he would be in at the finish. There is a good stretch of sound going along the bat k. and it was on this section that I elected to make a forward move. As vou know, we won. and won easilv. The little fellow is a great staver." "Thicker Than Water." Asked what had induce ! him to lake the mount on Survov at Kller-lie without having handled him on anv previous occasion. Kllis said that perhaps the best answer to' that was that "blood is thicker than water." He said his brother Ernie, who trains Survov. has always been very keen to secure iiis services for any of his jumpers. <md in the past he had nearly always had his own wav. However, there was one occasion on which he did not. and that was when N'octurnus won the Crand National Steeples. The connections of the hor»e were fairly confident that he would win ami offered him a substantial sum to take the mount, but he refused, with unhappy results, as is well known. Kllis said that Survoy-'s was his first victory in the Wclliiigto-i Steeplechase, and this j M itself gave him a good de.il of satisfaction; but after all it was only a fair reward for the defeat of Pamplona, whom he rode in the big cross-country event in 1924. It was his opinion that Pamplona would have won easilv had lie not gone clean through the last obstacle. At that stage the horse had a lead of about three lengths, and he was going so easily that he was confident that he could not. be beaten. However, the incident cost the horse all

his advantage and Oma'nu had passed liini before lie liad properly pulled his mount together. Even with all these contributing factors Pamplona got to within a head of victory as they reached the post. As Kllis said, "if ever a horse should have won at Trentliain it was Pamplona." (Questioned on the point of what was the best jumper lie had ridden throughout his long career, Ellis stated definitely that he would say Pamplona. Xo matter how high the fence the gelding could be relied upon to negotiate it, and it was a real pleasure to ride a horse of his stamp. He was a half-brother to Tx>ohella, who will be remembered for his line displays over the Riccarton and Ellerslie country, where he won the Grand National and Great Northern Steeplechases respectivel v. In respect to the best horse lie had ridden on the flat Kllis was of the opinion that Limerick was the best weight-for-age horse and Silver King the l>est handicap fierformer. However, he had ridden some truly fine horse* in his time, and some that quickly came to mind in this direction were Amvthas. Xightmarch. Silver Scorn. I.ouglirea. Kavenna. an<l in later times Peerless and I Sean pa rtir. A Fine Feat. Kllis lias had many successful runs at various meetings, and a feat that lie might be justly proud of was the year in which he won the Winter Cup on Solferite. the Grand National Hurdles on \\ liarnclitfe, and was second in the lira nd National Steeplechase on Peter Maxwell, the latter acting as runner-up to Beau Cavalier. His leading successes include the Auckland Cup (Fast Passage), Avondale Cup (Prodicel, Wellington Cup I Loughrea and \ intagei. Duncdiii Cup (I.ouglirea l. Awapuni Cold Cup (Vertigern. Night inarch, and Wild Chase). Hiverton Cup (I.ouglirea and Ravenna i. I imam Cup (Loughrea and Arikiwaii. and luvercargill Cup (Kavemial. He lias also ridden two Cleat Northern Derbv winners (Silver Scorn and Red Manfred). four New Zealand Oaks winners (Korokio. Sweet Agnes, Lady Graceful and Peerless), and one New Zealand St. Lcgcr Stakes (Beaupartir). Kllis n\ade his name as a crosscountry rider early in his career, for back in 192.'! he won the Otago Steeplechase on Pamplona. On the same horse he annexed the event the following year. Again in 1923 he won the (/rand National Hurdles on Penury Hose, and he rode Wharncliffe to victory in the coveted event in 192.'). In I#3l he was in the saddle when Snowfall scored in the Crand National Steeplechase, and two years later was successful in the same race on Thurina. Last year he gave a splendid illustration of his skill when he piloted Padishah in the big hurdles at Riccarton. At Kllerslie he has victories to his credit in both the hurdles and steeplechase, winning the former on .Mister Camp and the crosscountry event on Survov last month. A point that may not have been noticed last August when he won the Crand National Hurdles 011 Padishah was that he was having his first ride over hurdles for seven years, which is a further illustration of the convincing ability lie retains in the saddle.