Classic Horses Of 1960—N0. 3 NEWBUS RATED AS A DERBY PROSPECT

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29189, 27 April 1960, Page 5

Classic Horses Of 1960—N0. 3 NEWBUS RATED AS A DERBY PROSPECT

IBy

NIGEL GEE]

Newbus was the most highly rated of all the Derby entries in the 1959 Free Handicap. He raced throughout the season in the colours of Captain Riley Lord, but on the death of that owner he was bought by Mr H. J. Joel to reinforce his already strong team for the classics. He ran five times in 1f59. He won only once, but he was Second in his other four races.

After an initial defeat, Newbus won the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, unexpectedly beating Supreme Court’s half-brother. Beau Court, which until then was being hailed as a potential Derby winner. The lustre of this success is tarnished somewhat by the fabt that Beau Court’s form became progressively worse as the season went on.

Newbus was logically favourite for the Richmond Stakes at Goodward in July, but after engaging in a cut-throat battle with ttyo of the other three runners, he was caught near home by the fourth member of the field, Dollar Piece. This was a frankly disappointing defeat.

The Gimcrack and Champagne Stakes were the last two races Newbus ran. In each he was second to the season’s top filly, Paddy’s Sister. It is interesting, however, that while he was three lengths behind her in the Gimcrack, she beat him by less than a length in the Champagne. This could imply that Newbus was improving when he ran in the Champagne Stakes. If this is true, then he must be considered, as the Free Handicap implies, a first-rate classic prospect. It could be. however, that Paddy’s Sister, which had already run four races without defeat, was beginning to train off. Remains With Elsey

Newbus was no novice when he ran in the Champagne Stakes, and for that reason I treat his apparently considerable improvement with some caution. I may be needlessly pessimistic, but another discouraging feature is the subsequent form of Dollar Piece, which suggests that Newbus should not have been beaten by him at Goodwood.

Newbus is by the Derby winner Nimbus, a rather disappointing sire, out of a Big Game mare, a pedigree which should take him the Derby distance. Though he is now owned by Mr Joel, he remains in Captain Elsey’s stable

Sir Victor Sassoon has won the Derby three times in the last seven years, with Pinza. Crepello and Hard Ridden. It seems barely credible that he should do it again in 1960. yet he has what appears to be an outstanding candidate in St. Paddy, which was rated at Bst 131 b in the Free Handicap. St. Paddy had his first race at York in August, but he ran dismally. His form was put down to backwardness, though it is relevant to mention that he

started favourite. Whatever the cause of his failure, he ran quite brilliantly in his second and final race, the mile Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot, which he won by five lengths from Goose Creek, which had a respectable reputation on his previous form. St. Paddy is by Aureole, the sire of Saint Crespin. which was rated above last year's Derby winner. Parthia, in the three-year-old Free Handicap. His dam, Edie Kelly, was an obscure racehorse, but she is by the Derby winner Bois Roussel.

A fine-looking horse, St. Paddy may be quite exceptional. I must make a qualification, however, that his pedigree suggests the possibility, no more, of a highly strung temperament. Though they were very good horses, there is a strain of excitability in both Aureole and Bois Roussel.