RACING Strong North Island Team For Riccarton

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28840, 10 March 1959, Page 4

RACING Strong North Island Team For Riccarton

Seventeen North Island horses have been nominated for races at the Canterbury Jockey Club’s autumn meeting on March 30 and 31 and April 4.

Among the North Island representatives are several with good records at Riccarton.

Mediterranean, which ran second to Balfast in the New Zealand Cup in November, and second to Passive in the Derby when he was still a hack in 1956, has been entered in an the main distance races.

Donna Bella, a two-year-old winner at the cup meeting. Happy Warrior, winner of the Stewards’ Handicap, and Blonde Sprite, winner of the Welcome Stakes last season have also been entered in several events.

Numerically, North Island representation at this Easter meeting is expected to be well up to the standard of past yean. North Island horses have a good record at Riccarton. At the New Zealand Cup meeting one of the strongest North Island teams seen here for many years won 14 of the 24 races and two-thirds of the prize money. At the Grand National meeting in August, North Island horses took home more than half the stakes. Last Easter, seven North Island horses competed at the autumn meeting. Five of them won, and only one failed to gain a place. South Island horses got a better share of the prize money at that meeting, winning £14,785 compared with £3965 won by the North Island horses. Three at these horses, Goudvink, Drum 801 l and Mindanao, have been entered again this year. Hot Favourite Failure Goudvink and Drum Roll have

been nominated for the Great Easter Handicap and the Waltham Handicap. Goudvink has also been entered for the Warstep Stakes and the Challenge Stakes. A North Island horse, Equal Terms, then a three-year-old, provided a sensation in the Great Easter last year. He was one of the hottest favourites of the meeting, but tailed to come on and finished eighth. Later in the meeting he comfortably won the Sixty-sixth Challenge Stakes. Drum Roll has not been entered for the Dominion Handicap this year, although he wont ft last year by half a length from the Wellington Cup winner. Ark Royal. This time he win be weighted tar the Great Easter and the Waltham Handicap. Drum Roll returned to form on Saturday when he won the Taranaki

Cup, and he won there again yesterday against a small field of sprinters in the Urenui Handicap. Drum Roll’s stablemate, Mindanao, which ran third in the Warstep Stakes last year, has been entered in the Great Autumn, the Dominion Handicap and the WalSeveral North Island two-year-olds have been nominated for the Champagne Stakes on the first day. These include Donna Bella and Princess Donna, which axe owned and trained by Mr P. Louis, of Wellington, Kirkfield, and Sparfacus. Donna Bella won the Irwell Handicap at-the Cup meet-

ing. Other North Island horses at the meeting include Happy Warrior (Great Easter, Dominion, and Waltham Handicaps and the Challenge Stakes), Aqaba, Chattering, Kirklea, the Oaks winner Routine and Supreme Effort The two former Riccarton gallopers, the three-year-olds Blonde Sprite and Petty Officer, have been nominated for several events. Blonde Sprite’s engagements include the Great Easter, the Dominion Handicap and the Challenge Stakes, and Petty Officer has been entered in hack events. The Canterbury Jockey Club’s handicapper, Mr F. A. Jarret, will declare weights for the meeting on March 17.

Successful Apprentice Success achieved by the Bulls apprentice, L. K. Tinsley, has been one of the highlights of the racing in the southern part of the North Island this season. R. Fisher, who is the leading apprentice by a wide margin, has had 28 winning rides this season. At the Egmont Racing Club’s meeting at Hawera on February 21 and 28, Tinsley rode seven winners, which took his tally tor the season to 28. At Trenthain on Saturday, Tinsley had six rides. He figured in close finishes in both legs of the double, finishing fourth on the outsider Royal Inca in the Autumn Handicap, and fourth on Aequitas in the Thompson Handicap. R. Fisher, whose win on Red Robe in the Ohinemuri Cup on Saturday brought his tally to 20 wins, is second to Tinsley in the list of winning apprentices. Only five senior jockeys, G. F. Hughes, R. J. Skelton, W. D. Skelton, J. W. Harris, and W. A. Smith, have ridden more winners than Tinsley this season. Brilliant Sprinters To Clash Gold Stakes, brilliant winner of the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on Saturday, will dash with another fast sprinter, the New Zealand-bred Lord, in the All-aged Stakes at Randwick on April L This dash is expected to provide one of the highlights of the AJ.C. autumn meeting.

Gold Stakes’ runaway win on Saturday was a triumph for the Sydney’ trainer, J:'-Green, who earlier this season the Melbourne Cup with ißaystone and the Oakleigh Plate with Gold Stakes.

Gold Stakes is a son of High Stakes, an undistinguished mare which won a few races at country courses in New South Wales. His granddam, Velia, did little to distinguish herself on a racecourse either. She had a dozen starts as a two-year-old and one as a three-year-old, and the best she managed was a second in a two-year-old maiden race at Canterbury Park, New South Wales.

Gold Stakes is by the successful imported sire Star Kingdom.