LEAVING N.Z.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 306, 28 December 1939, Page 8

LEAVING N.Z.

CHAMPION RACER.

THREE-YEAR-OLD COLT

BEAULIVRE'S FUTURE.

OWNER MAKES DECISION. The champion three-year-old colt Beaulivre, one of the beat racehorses bred in New Zealand for a number of years, is to leave the Dominion shortly for Australia, where he is to do hie future racing, if present intentions are adhered to. In an exclusive interview with an "Auckland Star" representative this morning, the Wellington sportsman Mr. E. C. Hartnett, owner of the colt, stated that he would travel by the same boat as Beaulivre to Australia. "It is hard to say how Beaulivre will fare in his engagements at this Auckland meeting," said Mr. Harnett, "but I have come to the conclusion that there will be very little left for him in New Zealand. He is not a big horse, and his opportunities here will be limited.

Best In Australia. "I have decided to let him race against the best in Australia, and his first start will be in the Victoria Amateur Turf Club's Futurity Stakes at Caulfield at the end of February. After that, he will compete in other weight-for-age races in Australia, and it is doubtful if he will be brought back to New Zealand." After Mr. Harnett had made this statement this morning Beaulivre went out at Ellerslie to score a further success by winning the Ring's Plate.

Regarding the training of this crack colt, Mr. Harnett remarked that he would have liked to retain the services of S. J. Reid, who has prepared Beaulivre for all his engagements since he purchased him for 2900 guineas at the dispersal of the late Mr. W. Higgins' horses early in the season, but, that as Reid is virtually private trainer to Mr. F. Ormond, of Hawke's Bay, that was well-nigh impossible. Now, Beaulivre is to be trained by G. Price, a former New Zealander, who has done particularly svell for many years in Australia. He lias headed the New South Wales winning trainers' list, and, among other races, won the Melbourne Cup with Windbag.

His Rise to Fame. Beaulivre's rise to fame has been phenomenal. He concluded his two-year-old career by winning the Champagne Stakes and the 47th Challenge Stakes at Riccarton shortly before the death of his breeder, Mr. Higgins, and, this season, he has won eight races in succession for Mr. Harnett. Hia successes have included the New Zealand Derby

' and th© Stewards' Handicap. In the Stewards', Beaulivre spread-eagled a strong- field while carrying Bst 101b, and he is the only three-year-old to have borne such a weight to victory in the history of that important event. Questioned as to his own intentions, Mr. Harnett admitted that he had disposed of a number of his hotel interests in Wellington, but stressed th» fact that ho had retained some of them and that he would be back again two or three months hence.