RACING EPSOM FAVOURITES HAVE PROVED COSTLY

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 6

RACING EPSOM FAVOURITES HAVE PROVED COSTLY

> I From the Australian Corresponaent of ‘The Press"!

SYDNEY, September 18. s Never before have people who I bet on doubles in Sydney had > such a disappointing period, with 1 such great financial loss. Four ’ favourites have fallen by the ' wayside, and other heavily ’ backed candidates have shown disappointing form. The first favourite out was Up i and Coming, now due to go to the I United States on September 20. and I the next was Huntly, whose leg trouble led to his scratching from ■ all engagements at the week-end. Another first fancy. Lady Cortauld, is giving her trainer, T. J. Smith, so much trouble that she was deposed from the top of the ladder of popularity. Perouse became the favourite closely followed by the New Zealand horse Supertax. On Saturday Perouse was hopelessly beaten in the Tramway Handicap at Randwick, and it is announced that Supertax definitely will go for the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup. Maurice McCarten has had shockingly bad luck with his Epsom team. At one stage it seemed that he had a full hand and that his trouble would come more from an abundance of talent than anything . else. Akatarawa Left Out McCarten trains both Up and Coming and Huntly, and now to make matters worse his best prospect at i one mile. Akatarawa. is not engaged in the Epsom Handicap. Akatarawa's form when entries closed for the big ,race was not comparable with the prospects of other horses in the stable, and his name was not listed as an entry. Now in successive starts Akatarawa has won two races, each in a style suggesting that he would be a first- ' class Epsoin prospect were he in the race. At Canterbury Park . Akatarawa beat In Love pointlessly, and In Love went to Randwick where he wmn in the easiest possible fashion from a smart field. About ■ an hour later Akatarawa was engaged in the welter handicap and big punters rushed to back him because . of his apparent good form. The judgment was correct. Akatarawa leading all the way to win convincingly. It was a bad day for the New Zealand contingent, particularly so for Ivan Tucker, who backed two j horses, lost both races with interi fereuce as a contributory cause, and I probably has lost his promising •stayer, Clear Crystal, which may • never race again. . , I Clear Crystal has a badly injured . shoulder and until the swelling goes I down the extent of the injury will not be certain, but prospects of his

racing again are very low. Tucker thought Court Gold would win the Tramway Handicap, and he might have, had Skelton not been burdened with instructions by people who warned him of the danger of making a run too early. There is a dip at the top of the straight at Randwick, and many horses are unbalanced when their riders make a run up the rise. Skelton was told not to do this, and he obeyed the instructions to the letter. But while he waited for the time to come for his run other horses crowded over and Court Gold was squeezed back. In the circumstances he did well to run fourth. The New Zealand-bred Pique, which did her early racing in her homeland, won the Chelmsford Stakes, nine furlongs, run at weight-for-age with allowances. It is the race in which Gloaming, then a maiden galloper, made his debut as a racehorse. Pique won in grand style, showing herself one of the best fillies out for some time.