TROTTING Spark Gap Might Spell After Saturday’s Race

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29801, 18 April 1962, Page 5

TROTTING Spark Gap Might Spell After Saturday’s Race

Spark Gap might have his last start for the season in the Intermediate Handicap, a race which has drawn a strong field on the final day of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club’s Easter meeting at Addington on Saturday. Spark Gap’s owner, Mr H. W. Alston, of Christchurch, said yesterday that he would probably put him aside after Saturday’s race and later prepare him for racing in the spring. The colt had had a fairly strenuous campaign for a three-year-old and on Saturday he would be having his fifteenth start for the season, said Mr Alston.

Spark Gap qualified to start in the Intermediate Handicap when he won the New Zealand Trotting Stakes without being tested on the second day of the meeting last Saturday. That win was his fourth for the season and advanced his winnings to £1452 IQs. The winner’s share of Saturday's stake of £650 is £425, which, if he is successful, would advance Spark Gap’s winnings to beyond the present record for a three-year-old trotter.

The record is held by Battle Cry, which won £1792 10s in the 1952-53 season when trained by C. R. Berkett at Templeton for Mr and Mrs E. S. Baxter, of Mayfield. Battle Cry that season had nine starts for six wins and two placings, most of them being in slow-class races at minor meetings. However, he won the New Zealand Trotting Stakes and another race at Addington. The brilliant Certissimus is thought to hold the record for races won as a three-year-old. He gained seven wins and one placing from 11 starts, and proved himself to be one of the greatest three-year-old trotters ever in New Zealand. One of the failures of

Certissimus was in the Metropolitan All Aged Stakes, a special race for pacers at Addington. His seven wins were gained in ordinary handicap events and when he created a record of 3.18 for one mile and a half by a three-year-old, he was successful from 72 yards in a race at the Canterbury Park Trotting Club's meeting on January 2, 1941.

This record of Certissimus stood until this year when Spark Gap reduced his time to 3.16 in a race also at a meeting run by the Canterbury Park club. Spark Gap gained his first win on September 23 when at his first race start he beat Robert Medoro in the Drayton Handicap at Methven. There have been many arguments in recent months when efforts have been made to recall another three-year-old trotter which has won in September. Investigations show that Certissimus at his first race start won the Drayton Handicap at Methven in 1940. However, the race that year was run on October 5. Spark Gap, which is often exercised as a pacer and qualified at that gait in the spring, is a showy black colt by Thunder On from Transmitter, an unraced mare by the Australian-bred Andy Derby from a winner in the Gaillard mare, Knapdale Lass. Spark Gap is closely related to Windsor Lass, Mortlake, Technique, Rose Volo and Margaret Logan, all of which were successful at the pacing gait. Resignations of two stipendiary stewards, Messrs J. H. Lang, of Christchurch, and J. B. Scott, of Gore, were ac-

cepted with regret at a meeting of the executive of the New Zealand Trotting Conference. Safety Limits The safety number for the Forbury Park Trotting Club's course has been fixed at nine plus five in a second line for all starts. A recommendation that the safety number at all starts at the Westland Racing Club’s course be six plus five has been accepted by the New Zealand Trotting Conference. Improver Southern Cross, a dismal failure at Methven last month and a fair eighth on the first day of the meeting, paced an improved race for fourth in the President’s Handicap at Addington last Saturday That was his third start since an enforced spell and he should be near his best for the Members’ Handicap, which will be run over two miles on the final day of the meeting. Southern Cross looked to be one of the most promising four-year-olds produced in the spring. Unfortunately he was injured in November and had to be spelled. Showed Speed Gay Reel, a member of A. Bryce’s Epsom team, was a solidly-supported 3-3 favourite for the Plains Handicap won by Flying Note at Addington last Saturday. She broke badly at the start and lost about half a furlong. She made up a lot of ground, and. although she did not look likely to return a dividend, she did well to finish twelfth Gay Reel has won five races this season and if she begins cleanly, she will have bright prospects of extending her record on the final day at Addington. She is an acceptor for both the twomiles Wilkin Handicap and the 10-furlong Au Revoir Handicap.

For Hawera South Island stables are not as strongly represented as usual at the Hawera Trotting Club’s annual meeting, which opens on Saturday. Among the southern horses entered for the first day are Startime, Lady Verna, Count Medoro, Hustler. Sarona. Smoke Concert, Andromeda. Dyson and Silvester. Hustler, a last-start winner in impressive style over two miles at- Gore, will be one of the most strongly-fancied candidates in the Hawera Cup, which was won 12 months ago for South Island stables by the Barrytownowned Orient Night from Scottish Light and Flying Note. Near Upset Mighty Brigade, the 14/14 favourite in a field of 15, nearly caused a major upset in the Reta Peter Handicap on the second day at Addington. He took a short lead from Our Own inside the last three furlongs and until 50 yards from the finish he looked almost certain to return a dividend. However, he came to the end of his run and had to be content with fourth place, a little more than a length from the winner, Moon Boy. Mighty Brigade will be a candidate for the New Zealand Hambletonian Handicap on the final day of the meeting when it is expected that he will again be driven by G. B. Noble. Skull Caps After discussions held with the manufacturers, who had submitted for approval a sample skull cap similar in appearance to that used by American horsemen, the executive of the New Zealand Trotting Conference has decided to adopt this style and make it mandatory from the start of the 1962-63 season. The executive has ruled that the caps could be painted to conform with an owner’s registered colours, or alternatively a silk cover, could be fastened over the cap. Several New Zealand drivers are at present using skull caps obtained from the United States. Their main advantage is that they have a chin strap, which prevents their being knocked off in an accident.