Eye Liner-Reisling Clash Thrills

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30737, 29 April 1965, Page 4

Eye Liner-Reisling Clash Thrills

(From the Australian Racing Correspondent oj “The Press.”)

SYDNEY. Like Oliver Twist, the racing public is asking for more after the Reis-ling-Eye Liner thriller of Saturday. But it is improbable that the two will meet again as two-year-olds despite attempts to arrange a match race.Just as a majority expected, the race for the Champagne Stakes has not satisfactorily settled the question of championship among the fillies in a year when there is an abundance of quality in the field.

The victory was in the last 20 yards and was by a neck. Half-neck away, and catching the two with every stride came the third filly, Citius, the daughter of Star Kingdom who is trained in Melbourne.

Both Reisling and Citius carried 101 b extra, the former for winning the Golden Slipper; Citius for her success in the V.R.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes.

Eye Liner, winner of eight races in eight starts escaped extra weight because of the conditions of the Champagne Stakes which set penalties and allowanaces with the value of a race as the gauge. At level weights on Saturday it may have been differ-ent-general opinion is that Reisling would have won on the day. But a rerun at level weights might not necessarily result in Reisling winning from Citius and Eye Liner, for there were several angles in Saturday’s race that enter calculations. First, Eye Liner was racing at Randwick for the first time, and her rider, Jack Harbutt, had not ridden there for many years.

Eye Liner, the Smokey Eyes filly from Brisbane, beat Reisling, the daughter of Rego, and worthy successor to Rego’s other champion, Wiggle.

Harbutt erred in putting pressure on Eye Liner coming into the dip on the turn and making the rise out of it. Sydney jockeys all know the risk of employing these tactics, and invariably let their mounts come up the rise before bustling them.

Eye Liner seemed to sprawl as she mounted the rise, and it was at that precise moment that Laurie Billett "kicked” Reisling away into a lead that looked like winning the race. Reisling was slower to get going than she has ever been in any of her wins.

Peace Council made the smart beginning, Reisling took some time before she went through into the lead. Certainly her jump-out was not comparable with her amazing start in the Golden Slipper. And given another chanee, Ivan Saunders may not be content to save Citius so much for a final burst. Had he used a little more of the brilliance Citius has shown in Melbourne it could have been a different result, even on Saturday. GOOD TRIO The trio will do a lot of good for racing in their careers, and a lot more as brood mares. Added to them are Gipsy Queen, from Melbourne, Te Parae, the New Zealand-bred, from Adelaide, and, perhaps one or two others to make this a vintage year. Eye Liner is more like a filly by her maternal sire, Newtown Wonder, than one by Smokey Eyes: Reisling is the typical Rego filly, complacent, easily ridden, and as fast as a flash from the starting stalls: Citius has all the marks of her sire. Star Kingdom, except that she is bay, but then the Star Kingdom champions have not all followed his chestnut colour. Never has there been a more unwarranted demonstration than that greeting the success of the New Zealand mare. Richetta, in the Miller’s Handicap at Randwick.

Bought in New Zealand for the equivalent of £15,000 in Australian currency Richetta is destined for Ray Bowcock's Alabama Stud at Aberdeen in the Hunter Valley. Saturday's run was the fourth in his colours and was preceded by a close sixth at seven furlongs, a much closer fourth at one mile, and a very unlucky half-head defeat in the Coogee Handicap at Randwick three days earlier. The mare had shown improvement with every run, yet had not raced up to the expectations of the stable. On Saturday, after running

about fifth or sixth to the turn the mare stretched out to take the lead entering the last furlong and beat Craftsman and Irish Pride home with Our Fun, the unlucky second in the Doncaster Handicap, fourth.

This time Richetta was neglected in the betting by the public, and this could be the only reason for the hooting that greeted the return to the enclosure.

Richetta is to go to Brisbane for the racing there, and then she is to run in the Grafton Cup, for her owner, Ray Bowcock, has a sentimental reason for having her appearance in that race.

Randwick track was very fast for Saturday’s racing, shown by Eye Liner's breaking of Todman’s Champagne Stakes record of Imin lOsec by running the six furlongs in Imin 9.9 sec.

Then Slasher, the five-year-old by Immortal (imp.) ran the seven furlongs in Imin 22.55ec, going close to the long-standing record of Freckles, which set the standard at Imin 22sec in 1942.

Former New Zealander, H. H. Riley, trains Slasher, and he was amazed at the time the gelding ran, for Riley had never regarded Slasher as having that ability.