RACING DUNEDIN GUINEAS AT WINGATUI

Press, Volume C, Issue 29626, 23 September 1961, Page 4

RACING DUNEDIN GUINEAS AT WINGATUI

Burgos Will Be Firm Favourite Today

Burgos will be a cleancut favourite for the Dunedin Guineas today, and his superiority will probably be just as marked.

It will be generally surprising if this Riccarton*trained Sabaean gelding fails to round off the John Grigg Stakes-Dunedin Guineas double, as Braganza, Cadiz and Gold View have managed to do in the last three years.

Burgos is trained by G. S. Barr and shapes as if he Will be the best winner for the stable since Ray Ribbon. Ray Ribbon won the Dunedin Cup as a three-year-old in 1954. He did not run in the Dunedin Guineas' that year, but showed his worth in running the brilliant Somerset Fair fairly close in the Wellington Guineas. Francisco, the second Riccarton representative, was

unbeaten in two starts at the Grand National meeting. He has not raced since, and has had his training interrupted. Brst because of a cold, and then through a leg , injury. Having been seasoned by a winter racing programme, Francisco has not been seriously affected by his recent i setbacks. He could still be Burgos’s strongest rival. i Francisco is trained for the estate of Mrs D. K. Page by V. D. Clutterbuck, who also i took Cheyenne south. Cheyenne is top-weight in < the Federal Handicap, second

leg of the main double today. He galloped brilliantly at Wingatui yesterday, and will have a big following now that a dry track is fairly certain. % The strongest form runner in the Federal Handicap field is Royal Order, but her stablemate. Supreme Effort, is no less consistent. Carbonett, Happy Birthday and Matlock are others with good chances. Coral Ring damaged a leg in a fence at Wingatui on Thursday, and will not run in the Federal Handicap. Valaris and The Era. two form runners, were scratched yesterday for the Grandstand Handicap, the first leg of the main double. Valaris won the corresponding race on the first day of the meeting, and The Era was a winner at Gore two starts back. Quite Able is now second top-weight with 8-11, but should manage to give weight to the best of the others if at his best. He quickly developed into

one of New Zealand’s best young stayers last season, and his five-year-old form could be of a very good standard.

Irrepressible and Kumai will form a popular bracket, and Becharre will also have solid backing after her second to Valaris last week.