Colt Dies In Stable Fire

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30793, 3 July 1965, Page 1

Colt Dies In Stable Fire

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, July 2.

A terrified colt perished in a fierce fire which swept through a Takanini racing stable tonight.

Seven other horses were released before the flames reached them.

Attempts were made by the trainer, Mr P. Mcllroy, to rescue the trapped horse. The stables were gutted. Gear, feed and the stable apprentices’ room adjoining the stables were also destroyed. The loss is expected to be about £3OOO. The stables were only partly insured. Mr Mcllroy dashed to the stables and opened the door of the colt’s stall. He was confronted with flames and smoke and was unable to induce the colt to come out The opened the doors to the other stalls and released the other horses into a nearby paddock.

Mr Mcllroy and his neighbours hacked a hole in the back of the stables in a desperate attempt to get at the colt, but were too late. The dead colt was a rising two-year-old by Copenhagen 11. He had been bought at the Trentham yearling sales last year by Mr R. Ellett, of Karaka, for 700 guineas. He was insured.

The horses that escaped were Captain Lancaster, a noted handicap performer, and a prominent candidate for the Rawson Memorial, the main event at Avondale tomorrow; Draco, a winner at Ellerslie earlier this season; Dr. Simon, Red Sahara, a yearling colt by Terrington from Pillow Talk, a gelding by Resurgent and a colt by Comte de Grasse.