CAULFIELD CUP

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25933, 13 October 1949, Page 7

CAULFIELD CUP

TRICKY TEST FOR STAYERS The Caulfield Cup, one of the trickiest tests for stayers, will be run next Saturday. The race will be of particular interest in New Zealand if Royal Tan and Lord Revel start. Usually Caulfield Cups are won by horses which are handy to the front all the way. There have been notable exceptions, but there is a lot to support the front-running, as opposed to the latecoming theory. Caulfield is an extremely tricky course, and the mile and a half of the Cup provides possibly the toughest test in Australian racing. Although the field has a fair straight run before the first turn, there is invariably a scramble for positions because experience has shown that it is fatal to be wide out going out of the straight. The pace is on all the way. The course is undulating and has unexpected turns. Thus, a horse might easily become nicely balanced on top of a rise and then have to round a sudden turn. Caulfield offers few straight runs. It is not like Randwick and Flemington. Essentially stayers’ courses, these give horses with stamina ample chance to settle down, for the sweeping stretches are ideal for long runs. So a horse which has early pace and draws well at the barrier always commands respect in the Caulfield Cup, always provided he can stay the mile and a half. Notable exceptions to the front-running theory included, in more recent years, Amounis. Journal, and Palfresco. More recently, in 1946, Bernborough’s rider, A. Mulley, tried to achieve the apparently impossible. But Bernborough was unable to overcome the handicaps of a big weight and a backward position early, although he finished handily. Ridden by W. Cook, Amounis finished from a long way back to beat 12 others—the smallest field but one in the history of the race. Recognised as the most remarkable Cup performance of all time was that of Palfresco. whose record time of 2min 27-Jsec still stands. Palfresco was a three-year-old when he won the Cup in 1935 from 23 others. He had drawn badly and, to make matters worse, he stood flat-footed when the barrier rose. At a great disadvantage, he rounded the turn at the tail of the field and remained well back for the first seven furlongs. Then he began to make up ground and. finishing full of running, beat Hot Shot by a length and a half. A length further away came the favourite. Marabou, which won the next Melbourne Cup. In the history of the race, only three horses have won the event and gone on to complete the double by taking the Melbourne Cup. Poseidon in 1906 was the first to achieve the feat. Thirty-one years later The Trump emulated the performance and, two years after that. Rivette completed the double. Rivette became the first mare to win both races. Bernborough’s failure in the Caulfield Cup of 1946 ended his remarkable sequence of race successes. He had been heavily backed to win the Cup at his sixteenth race in a row. But a combination of 10-10 and a difficult task set him bv his rider resulted in his finishing only fifth. While Melbourne Cup records boast only two horses which have succeeded twice, the Caulfield Cup is relatively rich in double winners. Paris scored in 1892 and 1894; Hymettus in 1898 and 1901: Poseidon in 1906 and 1907; Uncle Sam in 1912 and 1914: and Whittier in 1922 and 1925. One of the most striking training performances was that of the late Richard Bradfield, who in 1919 saddled up the three place-getters—Lucknow, Night Watch, and Chrome. The previous year Night Watch had won the Melbourne Cup. Final acceptances for Saturday’s race are:—Comic Court 9-1: Proctor 9-0; Beau Gem 8-13; Ungar 8-12; St. Razzle 8-10; Clement, Royal Tan 8-7; Comedy Prince, Saxony 8-6; Red Fury 3-2; Blue Legend, Lord Revel 8-0; Precedent, Nilam, Stamen 7-12; Harella 7-8; Dashing Beau, Playboy (inc. 71b pen.) 7-7; Blank Music, Heather Rose 7-5; Dickens, Lady Luba 7-2; Our Land 6-12; Lincoln 6-10. The Riccarton apprentice* N. Eastwood, has been engaged to ride Lincoln, a wellbacked light-weight in the Caulfield Cup. Lincoln, ridden by Eastwood, finished very fast to run fourth in the Toorak Handicap, one mile, last Saturday. The extra half-mile is expected to suit him.