Aquanita Wins £l0,000 Mile At Flemington

Press, Volume C, Issue 29669, 13 November 1961, Page 5

Aquanita Wins £l0,000 Mile At Flemington

(N.Z.PA.-Reuter—Copyright)

MELBOURNE. Nov. 12. The Victorian horse. Aquanita, starting at 11 to 2. won his second successive £lO.OOO George Adams Memorial Handicap at Flemington yesterday. Aquanita. carrying 9-5 and giving most of his rivals a big start in the straight, went very wide on the turn but won easily by a length. The unlucky light-weight. Royal Belltor <33 to 1) was second, with another lightweight. Berru <33 to D. a short half-head away third. Aquanita gave away 301 b to Royal Belltor and 231 b to Berru but had no difficulty in beating them at the finish. The jockey. R. Hutchinson, allowed Aquanita to drop right at the start, and when setiling down was in front of only two horses. Native Statesman and High Society. Approaching the half-mile, Aquanita was still a long way back and Hutchinson had to take him around the outside of the field to be about ten wide rounding the home turn. Even at that stage it was obvious that Aquartfta had the race in his keeping. Aquanita finished brilliantly down the outside and was going away at the finish. The favourite Mardene, which was sold about half an hour before the race to Sydney interests. showed a great deal of pace to be second behind Gay Ebon to the two furlongs post but weakened in the straight to fifth. The Sydney trainer. C. Ryan, acting for the Sydney owners. Mir and Mrs R. P. De La Salla and Mr and Mrs N. R. Rodgers, bought M-ardene 25 minutes before the offiri-ad starting time of the race. The price was not disclosed but was believed to be about 5000 guineas. The New Zealand-bred Gabon :a. which started equal second favourite at 7 to 2 with the winner, was disappointing. Gabon ra was well back most of the way and finished sixth. Fisher Plate Dh-au’.agiri firmly established himself as the best racehorse in Victoria when he won the C. B. Fit her Plate easily. Dhaulagiri, starling favourite at 7 to 4 on. gave the Melbourne Cup winner. Lord Fury, a big start in the early stages but beat him easily in course record time. He swept past Lord Fury about half-way down the straight and went away to win easily by six lengths with Nilarco a further five lengths back third. His winning time of 2min 27 J sec easily smashed the course record of 2min 28jsec. held by Prince Ariel. It u-as also fairly close to the Australian record of 2min 26 9-10 sec. m-ade by Tulloch in his Caulfield Cup win in 1957. Going along the back of the course. Lord Fury appeared to nave an unbeatable lead 15 lengths in front of Dhaulagiri, which was followed by Nilarco. with the former New Zealand stayer. Rural Loch, last. Lord Fury *til! had a clear lead nearing the home turn, but shortly afterwards Dnaulagiri started to move up and it was soon apparent in the straight that he would win. Rural Loch started in the race by a mistake. Original plans had been for him to run in the last race, the V.R.C. Handicap, but his trainer scratched him by mistake and left him in the C. B Fisher Plate. V.R.C. Handicap The South Australian stayer. Baroda Gleam, led all the way to win the V.R.C. Handicap from the favourite. Sparkler. Baroda Gleam, which won the Mooree Valley Cup before fin-is-Ing seventh tn the Melbourne Cup. was easy in the market and drifted from 9 to 2 to start at 13 to 2. A dispute over the rider of Sparkler was settled amicably on the course between J. Purtell and N. Sellwood, who had both been engaged for the mount. The dispute did not go before the stewards, and Purtell had the mount. Results:— GEORGE ADAMS MEMORIAL HANDICAP. Of £ 10.000; orse tmie. AQUANITA (Waternngbury— Reinitai 9-5 R. Hutchinson 1 ROYAL BELLTOR (Coronation Boy—Bellivertor) 3-3 P. Wallen 2 BERR U (Be rry lands—Stuning Thru) 7-9 .. D. Coleman 3 Sixteen started. Length; short half head. Time. Inrun 35 3-4 sec. Betting: 11/2 Aquanita. 15/1 Royal Belltor. 33/1 Berru.

C. B. FISHER PLATE, Of £SOCO: one mile and a half. DHAULAGIRI (High PeakSolar Circle) 9-4 G. Lane 1 LORD FURY (Edwards n Sea Ruffle) 9-0 R. Selkrig 2 NILARCO (Nilo—Redeswood) 9-4 .. N. Sellwood 3 Four started. Six lengths: five lengths. Time, 2min 27Jsec — course record. Betting: 7/4»on Dhaulagiri, 9/2 lord Fury, 7/2 Nilarco.