RACING KUMAI FOURTH AT WASHDYKE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 4

RACING KUMAI FOURTH AT WASHDYKE

Fine Preparation For

Trentham This Week

Kumai is an unlikely runner in the Whyte Handicap at Trentham next Saturday.

Much of his programme for the Wellington winter meeting was completed after he finished brilliantly for fourth in the Donald Grant Memorial, won by Combination, at Washdyke last Saturday.

Kumai’s first start at Trentham will probably be in the Parliamentary Handicap, a race he has already won twice.

A year ago Kumai ran second at Washdyke before winning his second Parliamentary and his third Winter Oats Handicap.

Shakes, another Whyte Handicap acceptor, ran another of his solid races in the Donald Grant Memorial but was soundly beaten by Combination, the only three-year-old in the field and the Dunedin Guineas winner last spring. Combination was ridden by the leading jockey, R. J. Skelton, who said later he had profited from experience gained in riding the Beilborough gelding a the Dunedin winter meeting. Changed Tactics Skelton found that Combinatoon could not accelerate quickly when ridden in behind, so he took the Wingatui chestnut clear and allowed him to make bis own pace from the early stages of Saturday’s race.

The changed tactics paid off at good odds. Combination paid £ll 14s and £3 7s in this, his fourth win for the season. Shakes, which beat Macdonald by a length and a half, will be taken north on Thursday. J. Messent, who won on him at Ashburton, and rode him again on Saturday, will also be his Whyte Handicap rider.

Kumai missed third by ; only a neck, and has prospects of finishing so close to the money looked slim when he was near the tail of the field three furlongs out. Kumai carried 10-0, -and ran over a distance short of his best but bis powerful finishing run and his general ap pearance of fitness gained him many supporters for Trentham. the scene of his most notable victories.

Another good Trentham trial was Tundra’s run for eighth. This well-performed Goreowned and trained Alpenhorn mare was back with Kumai half-way through the race, and made her run through the field close behind the big Wingatui grey. Tundra has 8-5 in the Whyte Handicap. Fell Before Race

SabelL the each-way favourite, could finish only .ninth, but there was a good reason for his failure. One of the smallest horses in the field, Sabell took a heavy fall when Windvale Lad collided with him in the preliminary. He was examined by a veterinary surgeon. who could find nothing wrong with him when he was trotted around at the barrier, but they did not go far in the race before E. G. Low realised he was without a -winning chance. "Sabell could be excused

for that failure —he took a heavy bang,” Low said after the race.

Fieldmaster looked the best of good things beaten in the Thomas Seaton Memorial, the second leg of the double. His brilliant late run from the back nearly brought him out on top in the most spectacular race of the day. Glenmorven just lasted for a nose victory over Fieldmaster and Mosque, which could not be separated for second.

Fieldmaster was the slowest away and had to make a big run around a packed field. He ran it out gamely under vigorous handling after at-

tempting to give Glenmorven a good start from the home turn.

Glenmorven has a very solid record since he joined D. P. Wilson’s stable a few weeks ago. He was twice second at the Dunedin winter meeting, and his race on Saturday was only his third from the Wilson stable. One of the successful Kurdistan tribe, Glenmorven is closely related to Royal lancer, one of the best stayers of his time. Mosque, a younger brother of the Wellington Cup winner, Eiffel Tower, seemed likely to win when he made a strong challenge along the rails in the straight. He appeared to be just ahead a few strides from the post, but the finish was so close that Glenmorven’s last stride was the one that mattered. Windvale Lass came from behind the middle of the field for fourth a length back, just beating Scribbler and Belle El Nil.