RACING Pink Rose Is Form Runner On Saturday

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 4

RACING Pink Rose Is Form Runner On Saturday

Pink Rose is a form runner for the Ashburton County Handicap, the main race and first leg of the double at Ashburton on Saturday. Pink Rose will be attempting to win the race for a second time. She won brilliantly last year when having her second start in open company.

The leading jockey, W, D. Skelton, was associated with Pink Rose when she won last year, and will have the mount again on Saturday.

Pink Rose’s strong run for third in the Amberley Cup last Saturday was meritorious and would have given her victory in another furlong. Early in the race her chance of filling a place looked anything but bright. Skelton was riding her hard after two furlongs, and she did not appear to be making any impression then. She was still a good way from the lead at the three furlongs, but her strong run in the short Amberley straight carried her past the weakening Avenge near the end. Pink Rose has 8-5 in the Ashburton County Handicap. The half-brothers Keep Time and Copenhagen fill the first two places in the handicap. Keep Time's Form Keep Time has 9-0 and Copenhagen has lib below him. This will be Keep Time’s first race since he ran second to Copenhagen’s stablemate Braganza in the Challenge Stakes at Riccarton on April 4. Two starts earlier Keep Time beat a field of open sprinters at Motukarara. Keep Time has winning form on soft and firm tracks alike, and his versatility will make him a solidly-supported runner.

Copenhagen finished out of a place in the Amberley Cup. He was soon badly placed, being unable to match several others for early speed on the small track. Over a mile on the big Ashburton course Copenhagen must be a stronger opponent for the form horses.

Skyrider and Romancing, winner and runner-up in the Amberley Cup, are again engaged, and are hardly likely to be at the generous odds they returned last week.

Other form horses include the Wingatui-trained Black Star, Nasib, Brookfields Lad, Marsana and Jesse Owens. Black Star won a double against the milers at Riverton at Easter. In his second victory his strongest rival was Jesse Owens.

Nasib ran two very good races against the stayers at the Canter-

bury Jockey Club's meeting. He was third in the Great Autumn Handicap and second behind the brilliant Great Sensation in the Dominion Handicap. Each performance was characterised by a powerful finishing run. This Riccarton-trained Red Mars gelding did not run on when ridden closer to the lead in the Sockburn Handicap on the third day of the meeting, but he has had time to freshen. Nasib will handle soft or heavy track conditions better than several of the others in this field. Oamaru Cup Win Brookfields Lad won the Oamaru Cup on March 21 but failed over a mile and a quarter in the Dqminion Handicap, his only race at the Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting. Marsana led for the last five furlongs for an easy win in the high-weight at the Amberley meeting. He was also a winner under high-weight conditions at Riccarton at Easter. In between those two wins he had placed form, so he must be given a fair light-weight's chance.

Royal Warrant will strengthen the possibility of a light-weight’s victory if he gets a run. He is one of the reserves and is third to re-enter. Conditions will almost certainly suit this mudlark, which was fifth in the Amberley Cup last Saturday.