Major Holliday May Have Best Fillies

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

Major Holliday May Have Best Fillies

Good English two-year-old fillies were thin on the ground in 1964, though the deficiency in female talent seems to have been general throughout Europe. The top two English fillies in the Free Handicap, Night Off and Never a Fear, were both owned by Major Holliday. They were 91b and 111 b respectively below the champion in the Free Handicap, Double Jump. Night Off ran only twice. She started favourite for a race at Newmarket in August, but finished 14th out of 15 runners. That so cooled the ardour of her supporters that for her next race, the Cheveley Park Stakes in October, she started 20-1. Perversely, she won it comfortably. The Cheveley Park is the accepted championship race for two-year-old fillies, and the small field contained five other runners which were all winners. Yet, Night Off, which was comparatively inexperienced, not only won, but beat a highly-rated French filly, Fall in Love. She is by Narrator, a horse which was only fifth in the Derby, but which later won the Champion Stakes and Coronation Cup. She ought to I stay a mile and a half, but * a full sister did best at a mile or less. Never a Fear, by Never Say Die out of a Chanteur mare, is the staying type, and Major Holliday has put her in - both the Derby and the Oaks. ~ She showed improved form * as a two-year-old when she • raced at a mile and she • almost beat the Irish colt Prominer for the Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot in Septem- • ber. She was only fifth * behind Hardicanute later in - the Timeform Gold Cup, but : she may have begun to train off by then. Never a Fear is probably ■ not up to the standard of the fcPerby, but she could be one

of the best English fillies in the Oaks.

Greengage was third in the Cheveley Park and now receives 61b from Night Off in the Free Handicap. Before that she had won both her races. She needs to improve to reach classic standard, but she will be a better filly when she races at a mile.

Runnello, by Crepello, comes from a very successful family on her dam’s side, and true to its tradition, she won three of her five races. She was outpaced in the Cheveley Park and finished last, which suggests she has limitations in class, though not in integrity.

Ruby’s Princess had a busy first season, winning her first four races. She was 171 b below the top in the Free Handicap and that may be her high-water mark. Her form began to fade in her later races and we may have seen the best of her. Veroussia ran for the first time in July and did not appear again until September, when she won a good race at Ascot over six furlongs. She is by Supreme Court and should stay any classic distance.

Isola d’Asti was first or second in all her five races and was rated equal with Veroussia in the Free Handicap. She was no match however for Never a Fear when they met and she may not be good enough for the classics. La Colline was as consistent as Isola d’Asti and had much the same merit She will stay particularly well, but here again I doubt if she will win a classic. Attitude was rated the third-best filly after Night Off and Never a Fear in the Free Handicap. She won both her races in great style, but though she is in the 1000 Guineas, I suspect from her pedigree that she is a sprinter pure and simple.