RACING Somerset Fair To Return To Sprinting On Saturday

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27603, 9 March 1955, Page 3

RACING Somerset Fair To Return To Sprinting On Saturday

Somerset Fair, winner of his last 11 races, is expected to score his twelfth successive win in the North Island Challenge Stakes at Trentham on Saturday. The Challenge Stakes is seven furlongs, and it will be Somerset Fair’s first race over a sprint distance since he won the Admiralty Handicap at Ellerslie last August. The North Island Challenge Stakes carries £2GOO in prize money. If Somerset Fair wins, he will increase his total stake earnings to £15,630. Not for Trentham Gold Trend has been feeling the hard tracks lately, and will not be taken north to run in the Tinakori Hack Handicap at Trentham on Saturday. Inlay’s New Quarters Inlay was taken south yesterday to join J. A. /Wilson’s Wingatui stable. She is a four-year-old Boissier mare, is owned by Mr A. J. McLaughlin, and has raced twice without success. She is from Rosa Leigh, a half-sister by Finis to Russleigh, Leigh Barton, and Margaret Leigh. Mosgiel Team The Hob, Clinker, and The Stove, which will represent D. P. Wilson’s Mosgiel stable at Trentham, were given pace work at Riccarton yesterday morning before being flown north early in the afternoon. The Stove is not a good traveller, but Wilson expected him to make the plane trip without losing any condition. On looks, he is an improved horse for his’ winning run at Motukarara. He will take beating in the Tinakori Hack Handicap on Saturday. The Hob and Clinker continued their trip north in first-class order. Tyro Retired Tyro has finished racing, and will be sent north soon to winter in the North Island before being mated next season with Cappielluca. Tyro, a five-year-old daughter of Balloch and Beginner, is owned by Mr L. R. C. Macfarlane, of Culverden, for whom she won the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Midsummer Handicap last season. Tyro’s first consort won eight races in England and France from nine furlongs to two miles and a quarter. He was narrowly beaten in the Ascot Stakes, and ran fourth in the Liverpool Cup. Mr Macfarlane bought a filly by Cappielluca from Gold Shoes for 575 guineas at the national yearling sales in January. Meritorious Win Golden Arch, winner of the James Memorial Handicap at Masterton on Saturday, has been anything but consistent, but there was a good deal of merit in his latest success. He was

in front all the way, and maintained a strong gallop to the end to cover the 11 furlongs in 2min 16 4-ssec. Golden Arch’s only challenger was Sombrero, which is expected to turn the tables over two miles in the Autumn Handicap at Trentham this week.

On Saturday, Sombrero was having his first race since he beat all but his stablemate, Golden Galleon, in the Wellington Cup, so he should be a better horse for it. Finito, running on in fifth place at Masterton, was also having his first race for several weeks, and improvement can be expected from him. He carried 9-7 at Masterton, and drops to 8-11 in the Trentham two-mile event.

Almost alongside Finito at the finish was the hardy Toparoa, which will have a big following in the Autumn Handicap, in which he has 7-13. Finito and Toparoa were the first two home in the Wellington Racing Club Handicap, one mile and a half, at Trentham in January. Toparoa was a rather unlucky third behind Dormant and Hy-Spin in the New Zealand Cup last November.

Thompson Candidate Zingabo, a Southland-owned and Riccarton-trained candidate for the Thompson Handicap at Trentham on Saturday, was keen to increase his speed when running half a mile in 52sec on the outside of the course proper at Riccarton yesterday. He will go north in first-class order for the £3OOO mile race, in which he will be ridden by W. Hanlin, for whom he has run some of his best races.

Zingabo has not raced since January 4, when at Invercargill he won the mile Final Handicap on a drying track, after finishing fourth behind Balveine, Dusty Miller, and Field Chief earlier in the day. Closest to him, but three lengths back, at the finish of the Final Handicap, was Ocean Flight, which is also engaged in the Thompson Handicap. Zingabo made another winning run as a miler in the Stewards’ Handicap on Dunedin Cup day in December. The best is seen of Zingabo when the tracks are firm, and he will need track conditions and luck on his side to win on Saturday from the No. 29 barrier position in a field of 30. Russleigh

Russleigh will be one of the last of the Riccarton candidates for Trentham to make the trip north.. She is booked to travel tomorrow evening. She was a weakening fifth in the Kinloch Handicap at Motukarara on Saturday, but improvement can be expected from that race, her second ®fter a spell. Her chance in the Railway Handicap will brighten if the track eases. She will be ridden by N. Eastwood, whose record in six-furlong races at Trentham is a good one.