TROTTING Highland Custom In Form For Timaru Cup

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29766, 8 March 1962, Page 5

TROTTING Highland Custom In Form For Timaru Cup

Highland Custom has contested three cup races this season and the best that she has managed in them so far is minor places. But that is unlikely to prevent her from being the popular fancy for the Timaru Cup, the main race and first leg of the double, at the Timaru Trotting Club’s autumn meeting at Washdyke on Saturday.

Highland Custom's latest race was the New Brighton ; Cup on February 17. In that j event she was the runner-up to Master Alan and that was her fourth successive minor placing since winning a double on the New Brighton course in the spring. The first of the other placings was a third behind Aldora and Scottish Light in the Methven Cup in September. The other cup race she i has contested this season was I the Ashburton Cup on Boxing Day. In that race she I was also third, but very close behind Falsehood and MahaI raja. In all her races Highland I Custom's efforts have been ; marked by stamina and i strong finishing runs. Such a performance should be ade<quate to give her victory if the 14 furlongs is truly run I this week. 1 But luck in the running could still have a major bearing on the result as far as the handicapped horses are concerned in a capacity field of 20. Highland Custom shares the 12 yard mark with five others but 13 of her rivals ; will start from the limit and among them are a number [ with strong form credentials. Solid Record There is certain to be solid backing for Aerobee which started a fresh campaign with two seconds on the i Washdyke course in January and has since been successful in the Hororata Handicap and the Harewood Handicap at Addington, her only two races since. Mary Mavis was a last start winner over 12 furlongs at New Brighton last month, but showed that she could run a longer distance nearly ■ as well by finishing second to Dandy Briar over two miles at Washdyke in January. J ohnny Thunder shares . second place with Scottish Light behind Zany in the sprint at New Brighton at his last start but two races i earlier had run out 13 furlongs successfully at Forbury 1 Park.

Robin Dundee, like Johnny Thunder, is another four-year-old with a solid form background. She recorded an outstanding staying performance to win the two-mile Wigram Handicap at Addington on February 10. A week later Robin Dundee was the runner-up to Mary Mavis at New Brighton and last Saturday gave starts of up to 60 yards to her three and four-year-old rivals over 13 furlongs in the Southland Challenge Stakes and beat all but Rembrandt home. Massacre, Queenson and Stormont are others off the front which could add interest to the finish. Each was a last start failure, but before that Massacre had been three times placed and Queenson had been the run-ner-up to Dandy Briar in the President's Handicap at Addington. Stormont has failed in three races since winning at New Brighton and Ashburton in December, but bad luck rather than lack of ability has had a major bearing on his latest performances. Meadow Scott and Seafield Lad make most appeal of Highland Custom’s co-mark-ers and if there is any loitering in the early stages of the race even Falsehood, from the back mark of 24 yards, could not be counted out of calculations. Second Leg Deep Lead, Rosalind Globe and Silent Hall might battle it out for honours in the Washdyke Handicap, the second leg of the double. Deep Lead has not managed to win this season, but his latest racing has been marked by consistency. He was a last start second behind Heathmount in the Geraldine Cup and ran Avante close in the Marine Handicap at New Brighton at his previous start. Rosalind Globe and Silent Hall, to which D,eep Lead will have to concede 12 yards, are two of three last start winners in ithe field. The other is Anahera, which will be trying for her fourth win in succession, but has to do it from the back mark of 24 yards. The latest of Rosalind Globe’s two successive wins was over a sprint distance at Orari on Geraldine Cup day At her previous start she had beaten a middle-distance field convincingly at Hororata.

Silent Hall lacks racing since November, but her record of three wins and two minor placings from five starts this season suggests she is well above average in ability.

All-round it is a field in which betting is liable to be evenly distributed over about a dozen runners. Bonnieburn, Countess Hanover, El Adem, Lady Night and Runfree are others on the limit with winning form close up on their records and each will be fairly high on the list of favoured competitors.