MULTIFORM

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 17

MULTIFORM

y| A CHAMPION OF THE ft 'NINETIES hj! ; . [I RECORD OF A GREAT HORSE t) lßy MILES I Mr G. G. Stead, the most successy ful owner racing horses in New Zeap land 30 years ago, regarded Royal Arg tiilcry and Multiform as the two best 3 horses he ever owned, and R. J. Mason, C trainer of both horses, expressed an * opinion that until he received Gloams ing Multiform was the best horse he _ had ever trained. Multiform was a j beautiful brown stallion and he finished his days in New South Wales ■ after having been purchased at the ' Stead dispersal sale by. the Australian , studmaster, Mr J. McDonald. r Multiform, by Hotchkiss—Forme, I was bred by Mr T. Morrin, at the Wel- [ lington stud, and, as a yearling in i January, 1896, he was purchased by . Mr Stead for 215 guineas and he, with , Cruciform and numbers of others that > later raced ■in the yellow and black ; colours, was a sale ring bargain. Early i in his two-year-old career Multiform : showed the possession of extreme speed : and in 1. starts he won eight races ■ and was three times second to his : stablemate, Gold Medallist, who started six times as a two-year-old and was . undefeated. A Crack Two-year-old Multiform opened his racing career the day Lady Zetland won the New Zealand Cup, and, ridden by R. Derrett, he dead-heated with Sir Lancelot in the Welcome Stakes, the pair finishing six lengths ahead of the third horse. Decoy, in 49sec. Multiform, who was suffering from a cold, showed the greatest gameness. "Spectator," in describing the race, said, "We have had many head and head contests for the Welcome Stakes, but the race between two high-class colts in Sir Lancelot and Multiform will long be remembered. On the second day of the meeting the pair of deadheaters met again in the Juvenile Plate, of five furlongs, but Multiform won easily and paid a dividend approaching double figures, while later at the meeting with W. Holmes in tho saddle he won the Electric Plate of four furlongs in most decisive fashion. He was slow away from the barrier and showed extreme speed and gameness." Multiform went on to win the Musselburgh Plate, weight-for-age, four furlongs and ran another dead-heat with St. Clements in the Glasgow Plate. On this occasion Multiform carried a 141b penalty. He still retained his unbeaten record, but two dead-heats and three straight-out wins in three weeks was good work for a two-year-old. Then came three defeats in succession, for Multiform filled second place to his stablemate. Gold Medallist, in the Great Northern Foal Stakes, Dunedin Jockey Club's Champagne Stakes, and the Dunedin Jockey Club's first Eclipse Stakes. When Gold Medallist won the Foal Stakes he was not bracketed with Multiform, but in the other two races they were coupled. He won the Hawke's Bay Stakes, the Canterbury Jockey Club's Champagne Stakes, in which he carried £2, and his solitary opponent, Miniature, was not backed. Speculators collected a dividend of His for £1 invested. Even with a 101b penalty, Multiform won very easily the Challenge Stakes, fn 11 starts 'as a two-year-old he won eight races, including two dead-heats, and was second three times. He headed the list of winning horses with £2761 13s for the season. Outstanding Three-year-oltl , Multiform started four times as a three-year-old, and four times was he " returned a winner, his victories being attained in the Hawke's Bay Guineas, i of one mile, the Derby Stakes, of one ■ mile and a half, the Canterbury Cup, ] of two and a quarter miles in which Waiuku and Daystar filled the places, | land the Canterbury Jockey Club'si Challenge Stakes, in which he turned the tables on his two-year-old con- ' queror, Gold Medallist, and also de- J feated Dundas and Bloomer. Again ho headed the list of winning horses in ' New Zealand, with .£2144 10s. Big ' fields did not oppose Multiform in any of his races, but his outstanding abil- ' ity was one reason for the paucity of ' runners against him. < At four years the Hotchkiss colt 1 gave a further taste of his quality ; when he again won the Canterbury ; Cup, the Auckland Plate, of a mile i and a half, very easily from Blue Jac- ] ket, twice winner of the Auckland Cup, the D.J.C. Eclipse Stakes, of six furlongs, and the Canterbury Jockey Club Challenge Stakes for the third time. During this season Multiform ) won £1475. In three seasons Multiform ' r had started 19 tiroes for 16 wins and J three seconds, and £6381 3s in prize money, a bigger sum than anj r other £ horse in New Zealand had won in a similar period.

"We don't claim that Multiform is a Carbine —because he has not clone what Carbine did—but he has done all he has ever been asked and has done it well," wrote "Spectator." "There is no reason why he should not be as good as Carbine or any other horse that ever galloped over turf. What he lias done we have seen, what he can do we do not know, and as he has not been strung up for any of his engagements it is very probable that neither his owner nor his trainer is much wiser than the public upon that head. ... He is such a level-headed horse that no one ever has any trouble with him. He is a kind horse to train and an easy one to ride, doing more in his work than is required of him and this is his character in his races. No wonder that he is a great favourite. . . . Everyone who loves a good horse will regret that Multiform is to leave the colony. If, as T surmise, the colt has changed hands, the purchaser has got one of the finest dispositioned horses to come across. You cannot excite him. He takes his work as a matter of course, and goes out to race, and returns after having done ?o, as quiet as an old sheep. Going slow his action is short, but at racing pace he skims over the ground with a long, sweeping stride, easy and graceful, and neither pulls hard, nor requires riding like many hoses. He has only to be asked in the easiest manner possible to run along and take up a position and he does it without any apparent exertion."

Shipped to England Towards the end of his four-year-old season Multiform was shipped to England, having been sold to Sir Edgar Vincent. Like another New Zealand champion in Noctuiform, he did not become acclimatised in England, and Mr Stead again secured him and had him returned to New Zealand. He was retired to the stud and proved an outstanding success, for in his first seasons he left such brilliant performers as Nightfall, Noctuiform, Sungod, IsoU, Boniform, Golden Lily,. Golden Slipper, and many other highclass performers, who helped to keep his name at the head ol' the winning sires' list. Unfortunately for New Zealand Multiform did not remain long for after Mr Stead's death in 1908 lie was sold at the age of 14 years for 3750 guineas to Mr John McDonald, of New South Wales, while one of his daughters, the three-year-old Golden r Slipper, realised 4500 guineas, the two-year-old Perle d'Or bought 2000 guineas. and a yeai-ling colt in Formeder> was sold for 1500 guineas. Like Gloaming, another of R. J. Mason's notable performers. Multiform did not start in a handicap race, and he was not given a chance as a five-year-old to shov' his true value. The manner of his winning, however, and his abilitv to snrint or stay with the best, marked him as an outstanding nerformer, and one of th» best ever bred in Australia or New Zealand.