RACING Royal Centaur One Of Colts Of Season

Press, Volume C, Issue 29684, 30 November 1961, Page 5

RACING Royal Centaur One Of Colts Of Season

{From the Australian Correspondent of “The Press ’}

SYDNEY, Nov. 27. Royal Centaur certainly is one of the colts of the season, as he further proved on Saturday when he won at Caulfield under the “steadier” of 9-8. Again Royal Centaur was at odds on. but this time he won by only a neck from Dusky Land, a Landau colt, although the two were well clear of the third horse, Red Flame. ! Royal Centaur is a brown t by Knight's Romance, from , Lully, bred by Mr B. Preston. of Levin. He is the first i foal of his dam, so that Lully j now becomes a very valuable brood mare, indeed. Lully was a winner herself over distance, but sub- ! stantially the family is more : likely to produce sprinters j than stayers. It has an Australian flavour i because • Lully's dam. Lueky i Giri. was by Myosotis (imp.). ; a horse brought to Austra- : lia from England by the late ' Joe Matthews, who was partj ner in Winooka when that 1 horse went to America. I Myosotis was later sold to ; New Zealand before he was really tried in Australia, and ' mares by him have done very i well at the stud. ■ Some of Royal Centaur’s | family have raced with suc- ; cess in Australia, one of 1 them, Ellerslie, winning more [than £22.000 in Melbourne ' carrying the colours of Mr 1 W. R. Kemball. Royal Centaur began in a i barrier trial which he won. i Then he won the Maribyr- : nor.g Trial Stakes at Flem- . ington, but next start found ■ 'he Breeders’ Plate winner | from Sydney, High Vista, too I smart for him in the DebuI tant Stakes at Caulfield. ’ In sipite of this, he was an [ equal favourite for the Mariibyrnong Plate, which was won by the filly. Jan's Image, 1 but finished only a moderi ate fourth. Then at Cauli field he won the Rawson : Stakes one week later [ and he has scored on the ; same track. i N.Z. Horses Do Well I Saturday was rather a good | day for the New Zealand | horses, one of them Raaji pool, covering himself with i glory by winning the Queens- [ land Cup (2m) in Brisbane, leading all the way. ] Raajpoot won the QueensI land Derby the previous ] week and was at odds on to I win the Cup even though a i three-year-old had not won i the double since 1932. I Raajpoot is owned by a mining magnate from Suva. i Mr Hao Charan Akil, who is (having singular success with > this, his first venture in Aus- ■ Tali an racing. Another New Zealand-bred | mare. Ideal, made it two in I succession at Caulfield by I winning the second division ; of Royal Centaur's race. Ideal had won in lowly company at Werribee but impressed racegoers so much ['hat she was at odds on for i Saturday's event and she ! won by a full six lengths. I Ideal is one of the first of the New Zealand-bred horses i by The Cobbler which had ,a very successful stud career i in Ireland before he was sent ! out. j The Cobbler was unbeaten I in five starts as a two-year-old and undoubtedly Ideal has inherited a great" deal of i his speed. Ideal is from Me Too. a bay of very attractive appearance now that she has settled down to racing. The Dominion horses landj ed two plunges at the Rosethill meeting in Sydney, j The first was over the four-year-old. Civic Centre, which > i« by Marco Polo (imp.) from Fair Lynn, an extremely interesting mare, since she is i a half-sister to Ark Royal, one of the best stayers bred 'in New Zealand in recent -! years. Civic Centre had won one trace in New Zealand before ihe was brought to Australia [ Under the training of C i Ryan he won a seven-fur- ■ long novice handicap and | landed a plunge that re- ■ couped his new owners for I sheir outlay. This time he was stepped J up to a mile and a quarter. 1 and he won even easier, giving the impression that open- | class races are not beyond I him. Then to complete the double. White Strand won the Rosehill Handicap for the | trainer, J. WicklifT. who had

something to bet on. because White Strand had galloped as well as its stablemate, Waipari. and equally as well as French Descent which earlier in the day had won the Flying Handicap. Moreover, the form was good, for at his previous start White Strand was third to Dual Copy and Oreka, and Dual Copy won his next start. While Oreka was taken to Melbourne where he won the Hotham Handicap. It was a purple patch of form that proved completely reliable, which is something in these days of inconsistent displays in middle distance events. White Strand's success was at the expense of Nukuatu. trained by Wickliff's compatriot and friend, W. F. Clifton.