Strong Hazlett Bracket In Washdyke Steeples

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27408, 22 July 1954, Page 4

Strong Hazlett Bracket In Washdyke Steeples

RACING

Free Gift, which may be the strong-; est South Island contender for Grand National Steeplechase honours this year, will attract considerable interest with his performance in the Tescherraker Steeplechase at the South Canterbury Hunt Club’s annual meeting at| V, ashdyke on Saturday. Free Gift has not raced since he outclassed a weak lot in the Dunedin Steeplechase at Wingatui on June 12. and this race may not find him at the peak of fitness, but he forms a strong d racket with Glenlivet, an impressive winner over country at Washdyke on July 3. The club is to be congratulated on making a jumping race one of the legs of tiie double. That is how it sliould be on a programme for a hunt meeting which has three jumping

Free Gift is net built on the lines; of a weight-carrier, and the task of conceding from 151 b to 411 b to the others will probably be beyond him at this; stage, on what will almost certainly be a heavv track. However, his performance should show what progress he is making in his preparation for another attempt on the Grand National. He was runner-up to Fairhome in the National two years ago. Glenlivet, the closest to his stablemate in the weights, has made steady progress as a steeplechaser this winter and impressed when he beat Young Prince in the Pareora Steeplechase, two miles and a half, at the South Canterbury Jockey Club’s second winter meeting earlier this month. That race was run on a firm track, conditions much to the liking of Glen- j livet, which outpaced the others after lumping neatly throughout. Whether • - he will be able to show his speed to I the same advantage in bad ground will not be known until Saturday, but he should come through this test with! credit. Fell at Waimate Fort Silver scored an improver’s third placing behind Glenlivet and! Young Prince earlier this month. He looked the pick of the field for the big steeplechase at. the Waimate Hunt meeting on Monday, but went only as far as the second fence, where he fell, landing on the heavy track. That was one of Fort Silver’s few mistakes. His chance cannot be lightly dismissed because of it

Young Prince has shown his best form when given reasonably good footing, and he may not get conditions to his liking this week. Washdyke has had a lot of rain, and the track is almost certain to be heavy. Battle Signal and Generator are plodding types, hardly likely to match the best of the others for ability. They should be safely held by Silent SoL the clear-cut winner of the big steeples i at Waimate on Monday. Silent Sol is a fast jumper and a front runner. He was quite at ease on. the heavy track at Waimate, and from his place in the weights he should be; veil in the picture again on Saturday.

Riverstone will probably run in the steeplechase in preference to the Hadlow Hurdles. He raced three times at Trentham, twice over hurdles and cnce over country, and recorded two fourths. One fourth was against the hack steeplechasers on the first day o’ the meeting.' He has never shown his best form in really bad ground, tut is versatile enough to make a bold showing in this field. Sultry will probablv outstay the ether light-weights. She has shown a good deal of promise in the little racing she has done, and her future over country looks bright. The Free Gift-Glenlivet bracket will

be most in favour. The Invercargill ■ jumpers will probably find Riverstone, Fort Silver, and Sultry their strongest opponents. The First Leg Sawdust is the form horse for the Claremont Handicap, the first leg of the double. He just failed to stall off; ; the challenge of his stablemate, j Bahrein, over this distance at Washdyke on July 3, and the result might have been different if Sawdust had fared tetter at the start. Sawdust is a front-runner, but at Washdyke he was slow to jump out, and did not get to the front until the race was half over. Bahrein headed Sawdust some distance short of the post, but the latter was going a shade better right on the tine and lost by only half a head. Apart from Denominate, the form of those near the top of the handicap has • not been solid, though Royal Voyage ■ will appreciate the fall-away in class after racing at Trentham.

Denominate was unplaced in the race won by Bahrein at Washdyke earlier this month, but he received a bad run over the first half-furlong, and was soon at the rear. He did well to finish sixth.

Royal Voyage was runner-up to Brown Baron in the Timaru Cup earlier in the month, but did not show anything like his best form in his two : races at Trentham. He does not get good marks for consistency, but his best is good enough to give him a first-class chance in this field.

Cloudy View’s fourth placing at Waimate .on Monday was the effort of an improver, and she may show something better again this week. Cheerio and Algiers Debenture has not raced since the 'autumn, and better prospects in this ! section of the handicap are Cheerio and . Algiers.

Cheerio won the Oamaru Winter Cup last month, and Algiers brilliantly won the sprint on the same programme. Cheerio was sixth in the Timaru Cup the last time he raced. He would probably have finished closer to the money if the track had been soft. Like most of the Baffles tribe, Cheerio is in his element in bad ground, and conditions should suit him on Saturday. Algiers has failed since his Oamaru success, and should be safely held at the weights by Sawdust and Cheerio. There are few better bad-ground gallopers in this field than Dan, but lack of racing condition may be against him. Prospects are Sawdust, Cheerio, and

_ C. T. WILSON BACK

FROM BRISBANE « Colin Wilson, a former Riccarton jockey, returned from Australia by the DC-6 plane which reached Christchurch yesterday afternoon from Sydney. Last Saturday he rode Rising Fast into third place in the Doomben Cup, just behind another New Zealand horse. Paper Strip. Both horses were staying on for Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup meetings. Wilson said. “They both have a good show," he added. Wilson will return to Australia in a few weeks. TROPHIES FOR LEADING TRAINER AND RIDERS

The Canterbury branch of the Owners’. Trainers’, and Breeders’ Association will present trophies this year to the leading trainer, jockey, and apprentice from th** Canterbury district. The presentations will be made at the branch’s annual ball at Riccarton in Grand National week.