MIGHTY DOLLAR, WINNER OF £11,480, DESTROYED

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28661, 11 August 1958, Page 4

MIGHTY DOLLAR, WINNER OF £11,480, DESTROYED

Mighty Dollar, winner of £11.480 and one of the best horses trained at Wingatui for many years, fractured a fetlock joint during the running of the Islington Handicap at Riccarton on Saturday and had to be destroyed. . Mightv Dollar started 62 times for 13 wins and 25 placings Among his wins were the C.J.C. Stewards’ and Members’ Handicaps. the Wellington Racing Club’s Shorts and Thompson Handicaps, and the Dunedin Jockey Club’s James Hazlett Gold Cup. . Mighty Dollar was pulled up I shortly after turning for home in Saturday’s rdee. His rider. J. Didham, said later that he broke down before reaching the straight. A big, strongly built bay horse. Mighty Dollar was one of the best winners left by his sire. Treasure Hunt, which died earlier this year. He raced well at any distance from six furlongs to a mile and a quarter, and won on both dry and soft tracks. During his last two or three seasons. Mighty Dollar raced solidly under big weights. He won the Stewards Handicap with 9-1, and finished fourth in the Great Easter with and second in the Challenge Stakes with 9-4.

Riccarton Wins Mighty Dollar had his first and last wins at Riccarton. He opened his winning account there as a two-year-old by beating Copenhagen, Fulgent ana Surprise Ending in the Richmond Handicap.

At three, he finished second In the Southland Guineas, won a hack race at the Wellington Royal Cup meeting, and won twice at Riverton at his first two starts in open company. In the Brabazon Handicap at the Christchurch Hunt meeting the same year, he finished third to King’s Fair.

The next year he won at Gore and Ashburton and finished second to the brilliant Riccarton mare, Hush Money, in the Stewards’ Handicap. His five-year-old season was probably his best. During it he won the Shorts and Thompson Handicaps at Trentham. the C.J.C. Members’ Handicap, and the James Hazlett Gold Cup at weight-for-age at Wingatui. He also finished third to Big Blow and Coleridge in the Great Northern Challenge Stakes at. Ellerslie. His earnings that season j amounted to £4950. more than ’a third of his total winnings. He won only once in his seven starts as a six-year-old, at weight-for-age in the * C.J.C. Challenge Stakes. That year he was again unsuccessful in the North Island Challenge Stakes, finishing fourth to Coleridge, Somerset Fair and Imitation. Stewards* Handicap Mighty Dollar had his last win at Riccarton last November, when he finished brilliantly to beat the Oamaru sprinter. Cardinal King, in the Stewards’ Handicap. Although that was his only win last season, he had several creditable placings—second to the Wellington Racing Club Handicap winner, Liban. in the mile and a quarter Wyndham Cup, fourth in the C.J.C. Great Easter, second to Equal Terms in the Sixty-sixth Challenge Stakes, and third to (the ill-fated William Paul and India in the Churchill. Stakes. Hs was an unlucky fifth in the Winter Cup on the first-day of the Grand National meeting. Mighty Dollar had also done limited study duty. His oldest progeny are yearlings. He was trained throughout his career by ■ A. E. Didham at Wingatui. for Mr J. H. George, of Central Otago.