SET FOR METROPOLITAN

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30536, 3 September 1964, Page 4

SET FOR METROPOLITAN

(Prom th* AvstrcUen Cerropondent of "Th* Prott"], SYDNEY. The Sydney trainer, Jim Carroll, ia still hopeful that he can win a major handicap in Australia with Summer Regent (above). He is setting the stayer for The Metropolitan run over Im 5f at the AJ.C. spring meeting. Summer Regent will first of all start ia the sprint, the Tramway Handicap at Tattarstii’s meeting at Bandwick next Saturday. Then he will progressively be worked up to distance*, and Carroll is very confident that by the time the Metropolitan comes the horse wi! be as he wants him. Summer Regent has been a eostly animal to the Australian betting public. He was favourite for the last Melbourne Cup but finished out Of a place after getting a rough run. Then he came back to run in the Brisbane Cup but again performed only moderately. Nevertheless he has won some important races, and the pattern has more or les* become pronounced. Summer Regsnt runs at his best when he is fresh, and this fact has probably induced Carrol to time his preparation f« the Metropolitan to a short programme. Thia year’s Metropolitan is not going to be a hard race to win. At least that is the way it looks at the moment, for the field does net include many horses of note,

This probably has Induced a change in plan* for the weighMor-age specialist, Summer Fair. This New Zealandbred son of Summertime has to be carefully nursed in bi* preparatory races because of a “dicky” leg. The temptation, therefore, always has been to dodge the hard races and plan a programme to give Summer Fair races as easy as is possible, and wejghtfor-age events has always been the answer.

Summer Fair is easily the best hone in Australia judged on current form.

There are prospects among th* younger brigade, but these things have the unhappy knack of turning out wrong when the test comes. If everything goes right with Summer Fair there is not much doubt about which will be th* favourite for the Metropolitan on the day of the race. Guinea* Failure The failure of Eskimo Prince in the Canterbury Guinea* was one of the worst jolts the publio has had in the lest few years. Not that money was lost on the colt, for, except for the owner, Perce Galea, who invested £13,000, the public did not bet, since Eskimo Prince was never batter than at 5 to 2 on. But it was the shock of seeing their glamour colt beaten so badly that sent the big crowd of 23,000 away from the course wondering how far their trust in this Todman cult bad’been misplaced. Eskimo Prince is far from a write-off as a spring star. Almost as a certainty be will run differently next time he

comes out. The tactics adopted with him were scarcely the best in the light of what happened in the race. He pulled badly against the restraint of his rider, A. Mulley, and at times seeming to he unbalanced as he fought for more rein.

He ran. into trouble approaching the turn beginning the rise up the hill. This trouble led to the suspension of the jockey, R. Selkrig, Not Robust The Caulfield Cup is the mission supreme, and the trainer, Cecil Roils, has a horse that is not a robust individual to deal with. It is almost certain the colt was not muscled up for Saturday’s engagement. It should be entirely different when the Rosehill Guinea* comes along, and probably in this race Eskimo Prince will be allowed to run his natural race, A Hong Kong businessman, Frank Duval, -probably set a record for losses by a punter in a tingle day’s wagering on Saturday when he failed to back a Winner in the programme at Canterbury, To make It worse for him he loti heavily on two bets made on races at Caulfield. A canvas of bookmakers set the total losses at £60,000, the biggest single loss being £lB,OOO on Our Fun, th* New Zealand-bred mare which was unplaced in the Waveriey Handicap at Caulfield. Mr Duval is one of the partowners pf. Our Fun (Chatsworth—Tenderfoot) which began her racing career by winning at 80 to 1 at Randwick. She won one more race before being sent to Melbourne where she won as a two-year-old and later on th* Manifold Stakes, one of the "name” thre*-yaar-old races for fillie*. Since then she has had two wins, each of them at Moonee Valley, and the most recent at her start previous to Saturday’s race.

She was a hot favourite on Saturday, but this time sb* was not at her-best