TROTTING Suzendy And Blue To Leave For Australia

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28805, 28 January 1959, Page 5

TROTTING Suzendy And Blue To Leave For Australia

Suzendy and the leading three-year-old, Blue, are booked to leave Wellington for Sydney on February 9. Suzendy will go on to Melbourne where she will join Caduceus in the stable controlled by Frank Kersley. She will race in the Inter-Dominion Championship series in Melbourne in February and March.

Blue wilf race in New South Wales in the meantime. He will contest restricted age races, with the Sires’ Produce Stakes and the New South Wales Pacers’ Derby as his main missions.

Suzendy’s Templeton trainer, F. E. Newfield, will not accompany her on the trip, but if she qualifies for the £lO.OOO Grand Final, he may go to Melbourne to drive her. Kersley will drive her in the championship heats. Suzendy is the type to do well m Australia. She is usually most reliable and looks favourably handicapped on the front in the championship events. She could prove to be the best of the New Zealand horses on the small, turning track in Melbourne. Suzendy, a six-year-old mare by U. Scott from Leeston La;ss, is raced by Mr and Mrs F. G. Kirkpatrick, of Christchurch. She has compiled an outstanding record in her four seasons of racing and has had 10 wins and 36 platings from 77 starts. She can sprint and stay and her ability to accelerate quickly and hold a prominent position in her races could be a deciding factor in her favour in Australia. Suzendy’s first glimpse of form was as a three-year-old when she finished third to Glint and Dady Wexford in the New Zealand Oaks. She won two races that season in weak company and finished fourth in the New Zealand Champion Stakes won by False Step. Second To Dignus

Suzendy won four races the next season, including the Rakaia Handicap at Ashburton. However, her best effort was her second to the brilliant Dignus in the Charles Cross Stakes at the Canterbury Park summer meeting. Suzendy was a model of consistency again last season when she gained three wins and 11 platings from 23 starts. She won the Final Handicap from Scottish Command on New Zealand Cup day and at the Forbury Park winter meeting she beat Super Royal in the Queen’s Handicap. She showed that she was one of the best mares in commission when she finished third to Lookaway and Tactician in the New Zealand Free-for-all, recording 2min 37 l-ssec for the 10 furlongs, a smart effort for a mare in her class., So far this season Suzendy has had 13 starts for one win and seven platings. Her win was gained on the last day of the New Zealand Cup meeting when she beat Guard’s Brigade in the Churchill Handicap. Her placings include a second to Invicta in the Canterbury Handicap at Addington, a fourth in the New Brighton Mile and a third to False Step and Auditor in the Au Revoir Handicap at Addington on January 2. She was an unlucky fifth in the Forbury Handicap at Forbury Park on Saturday as she lost her position in the middle stages of the race. Her effort to finish so close up was a feature of the event. Suzendy’s record is:—

Totals 77 10 36 6487 Blue, the champion two-year-old of last season, has had two wins and three placings from

eight starts this season, his wins including the New Zealand Derby Stakes. He was campaigned at the Auckland Cup meeting, his best effort being a fourth against older and more seasoned horses in the Auckland Cup. However, he did not handle the Auckland track and • was disappointing in his subsequent races. Blue has brilliant speed and stamina and if he strikes his best form, he should be an outstanding winner in Australia.

Poor Return from Favourites Supporters of the favourites at trotting meetings in Canterbury on the last three Saturdays have had a lean time. In that period 24 races have been decided, 16 at the ,two-day Timaru fixture at Washdyke and the rest at Hororata last Saturday, but only one favourite has been successful. That was Gay Baron, which gained a narrow win in the Geraldine Handicap on the second day of the Timaru meeting. Four favourites, Chances Are, False Step and Gambling Princess (twice), managed to reach dividend bearing places at Washdyke, but each was at odds-on.

The trend continued at Hororata on Saturday where betters invested £5852 on the favourites, in a total on and off-course win and place pool of £32,758 10s, but throughout the day received only two odds-on place dividends back. They were from Highland Rover, which with his stablemate, Ahumai, was made first choice for a place in the New Brighton Handicap and finished second, and Ceremonial, the each-way favourite which finished third in the First Selwyn Handicap. Qualified for Auckland

Three pacers and two trotters which raced at the Bay of Plenty meeting at Tauranga last weekend qualified to compete in the slower-class races at the Auckland Trotting Club’s meeting next month. The pacers, Damien, Spirits Bay and Top Class, are now eligible to start in the 4min 37sec class Mt. Albert Handicap on the first night. The Whakatane Handicap on Saturday gave Damien his third successive win. Spirits Bay was successful in the first leg of the double each day. The distance of each event was two miles and Damien’s wins were impressive. Top Class, a former member of J. A. Flynn’s team at Invercargill, but now with L. McFarlane at Papakura, won the Farewell Handicap, one mile and a quarter, on Monday. Welwin, winner of the Mount Handicap on Saturday, and Ritihia, which took the Anniversary on Monday, both qualified for the trotters’ events at Auckland.

Age Starts Wins Placings Stakes 3yrs .. 14 2 3 442li 4yrs .. 27 4 15 2090 5vrs .. 23 3 11 2615 6yrs .. 13 1 7 1240