ACCESSION A SURPRISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 226, 24 September 1945, Page 7

ACCESSION A SURPRISE.

DEFEAT OF SLEEPY FOX SYDNEY, Sept 23. Sleepy Fox, regarCea as a certainty for the race, and. starting at long odds on, was defeated by half a head in the Clarendon Stakes at Rosehill yesterday. The New Aealander found Accession a little too solid in the closing stages. Accesson is' a four-year-old by Coronation Day, a son of Coronach, from the New Zealand-bred mare Silver Scorn.

With a furlong to go Accession ranged alongside Sleepy Fox, who had taken the lead a little earlier, and the two raced head and head to tne post. Neither trainer B. Payten nor jockey D. Munro offered any' excuse for Sleepy rox, but he did not have the best of luck.

Sleepy Fox began slowly and lost three lengths at barrier-rise. The stewards asked why he lost ground at the start, and Munro told them the horse had blundered in-jumping away. .

. Although the field comprised only six horses Sleepy Fox raced three librs'es wide litttil•-afterCentering the straight. He was run qff, his legs in the first seven furlongs and was left without a finishing kick when Accession ' challenged. -

I The New Zealanders E. J. Ellis, trainer, and L. Hare, rider of the Epsbfn Handicap hope High Play, were questioned .for nearly an hour by the stewards after High Play had finished fourth in the first division of the Welter Handicap. After hearing their evidence and verifying betting transactions the stewards accepted the explanation. ' '■ •• ■The stewards asked why High. Play, after being one of the first away, lost .so much ground in the early stages that he was nearly fifteen lengths from the leaders passing the half-mile. Hare said the horse ,would not stretch out and refused to gallop kindly. Results:— CLARENDON STAKES sweepstake of £9 each, with £900 added, wei»nt-ror-«ge, wltn allowances, nine furIones.—ACCESSION, 9.0 (W. Cook), 1; SLEEPY FOX, 9.1 (D. Munro), 2: MAYPOWL, 8.4 (A. Sinclair), 3. Six started. Half S. head; three lengths. Time, 1.51J4 QUALITY HANDICAP, sweepstake of £10 each, with £1000 added, seven fnrlonss.—REPSHOT, 8.5 (A Morgan). 1: TRIBAL. 7.7 (N. McGrowdie), 2; SILENT, 7.2 (N. romlinson), 3. Eight started. Head; neck. Time, l.Zi. ASCOT RESULT ... MELBOURNE, Sept 23. The Ascot Thousanc, run at Mcntbne yesterday, resulted:-RIVER HERO,. ' 7.10 • (Heather), 1; BURMA,. 8.1 (Breasley), 2; GALA CHIEF. 0.10 iWi liamson), 3. Eleven started. Two lengths and a half; three-quarters ol a length. Time, 1.13U-