'Rapier Was A Real Race Horse'

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30809, 22 July 1965, Page 4

'Rapier Was A Real Race Horse '

In 1924. Mr G. G. Holmes; sent Hugh Nurse a colt ’ which was to take him to top recognition as a trainer ; There have been men who have trained two or three champions but to get one in a lifetime of training one has! to be lucky. Anyway, along came this coll by the Spearmint horse. Greyspear, a grandson of the mighty Carbine and from a dam whose pedigree sparkled with brilliance. She was Am tea. by the St. Simon horse St. Ambrose, from Stepka. by St. out of Stepfeldl by Nordenfeldt from Steepe This was a grand family which had produced many good winners including the top colt. Reputation, which wtas out of Stepfeldt. This Greyspear colt indeed offered a challenge Showed Potential Right from the start the colt showed potential and he was also gifted with an even temperament. He was more like an old gelding than a colt and it was that way throughout the career of Rapier, as the colt was aptly named. . Even so, it must have caused his trainer some thought that after running third at his first start which was at Metfoven in the spring of 1924. Rapier did not break through for his first win until seven starts later. The travelling and racing on the southern trip which embraced the Dunedin arid Southland meetings no doubt■ were the right things at that stage of the colt’s education Although he secured two or three placings. not until May 1925. at Rangiora did he seore bis initial success in the Trial Plate in which he was ridden by Cliff C'Postie") East wood. He followed this w*iith a double at the Grand National meeting but then set up a series of 10 consecutive outs before he won his next and last hack race. That was on his home track. Riccarton. at Easter. Rich Open Debut Rapier certainly impressed when he won his first open contest as it was a ’••we ’> r no less significance than the Whyte Handicap at Trem-

(ham. He delivered a riposte j later at the meeting when < at his next start he captured i the Parliamentary Handicap ’ Then sights were set on the! i Winter Cup. He was un- ’ placed in the Brabazon Han J ! dicap when he ran a nail in/ his foot and he could not be!' produced for the Winter Cup His reappearance was de- 1 layed until the spring meet mg at Motukarara where he unsuccessfully contested a sprint, a race which was fol-1, lowed by a seven-furlong out-j ing at the New Zealand Cup; meeting He was the tenth; favourite in the Riccarton! race but that he was close! to’-form again he must have ' showed because on the final i day- of the meeting there; > were only two better-fancied I runners in the Cressy Han , dicap of six furlongs He showed his versatility ; by winning that sprint. A sec- 1 r** ************** ************

I ' ond placing to Front Rank at Washdyke preceded a north- ( ern trip to Awapuni where ; he was placed in both his races before he won the Mar- ! ton Cup in that New Year when ridden by Jack Beale. I That the Marton win served a true indication to his fitness he proved by winning at his next start the Wellington Cup. That race was a mile and a half in those days and Rapier beat ’ Te Monanui and Rapine. Billy 1 Brown, a Riccarton horse- ( man. rode him and that wa; ■ Rapier's only start at the ' meeting. Bush Tracks i Ideas that the big meetngs. even as a Wellington Cup winner, were to be his only attractions in the future were discounted when he re-1 I corded his next win. This was a six-furlong af1 fair at Oamarii after he had ■ been placed at Motukarara ■ ' and at Waknate. The Oamaru

win was the last from four other starts that season. His stablemate, Chickwheat. won the Ashburton Handicap in which Rapier was placed in his first race of the following season, a season that was to prove his best. Perhaps no ! horse had had such a country track preparation for big events as he did that season. Four In Succession He was second in the Geral!dine Cup and Kurow Cup before he unsuccessfully coni tested the Champion Plate a 1 ■ Trentham won by Limerick I But from there he set out to ! show how good he really was j He won his next four races He began with the Akaroa : Handicap at Motukarara; the i New Zealand Cup followed ■ j when he was ridden by C ( ! Emerson, and he then went to i Ellerslie where he won the Auckland Cup and the Clifford Plate, each time ridden; by Tommy Green. He missed i :n the Thompson Handicap, and finished third in Star; Stranger’s Trentham Gold I Cup on the way home. Under! I big weights he was, unplaced ■in the Sockburn and Great; Autumn Handicaps at Riccar-i ■ ton. Then retirement for the* ! remander of the season. Rapier was growing old enough at seven, an age hen some deterioration in his form; could have been expected, but! he came up again after un-i placed runs in the Geraldine i Cup and in the Wellington; Handicap. The Trentham' track which had been so, favourable to him in earlier! efforts brought him to the; fore again in the Harcourt ! Cup in which he beat Laugh I ing Prince and Star Stranger.■ Defeated That was his wind-up run; for his second New Zealand j Cup attempt but he met de! ! feat in that race by Oratrix which beat him by half a ’ength. He was considered most unlucky that he did not add his second New Zealand i Cup to his tally as his rider I l Campbell was overtaken bynausea during that race in i which he had shared equal ; top-weight with Count; ! Cavour. Then he was second( to Laughing Prince in the G G. Stead Gold Cup. At his next meeting he was lout of the money in the Pub iican's Handicap and then]

figured in that memorable race which was considered a match between the weight-for-age stars Aussie and Limerick, the Hazlett Cup. He finished third to those two Aussie was the winner. A half-head defeat by Beau Geste under fist 91b and a third at Motukarara when beaten two half-heads bv Beau Geste and Pride had him in order for a further thrust at Wellington. Beat Night march After an unplaced Thompson Handicap run he improved a great Trentham record by winning the two-mile Trentham Gold Cup from Count Cavour which also had 'lst 41b and Nightmarch at Bst. He climaxed a brilliant career when he beat Nightmarch again in his last win. 'he Awapuni Gold Cup. Nightmarch was destined to win that race both as a five-year old and in the following sea ■ son. It was Rapier’s last good season. A third in the following year’s Trentham Gold Cup to Star Stranger and Concentrate was his only placing—as an eight-year-old. when ho was retired from the racing sphere. Heart Ailment After a short term at the ■ stud Rapier dropped dead. It was found that he had a cavity in his heart. Swordstick was a useful horse, a Dunedin Jockey Club Handicap winner, sired by Rapier. Another was Slasher, which, unfortunately, “went in the wind." Yes, indeed. Rapier was a real racehorse. He could sprint with the most brilliant and had the stamina to cope I with the most dour of longdistance performers as witness his Auckland Cup. New Zealand Cup and Trentham Gold Cup victories -over the extreme distance. Not only that, he could race on saucer-like circuits, on tracks with long testing i straights and he was equally l at home whether on a firm ! surface or when the mud was I fetlock deep.

His old trainer says it was a pleasure and a delight—not Ho mention the monetary satsfaction —to have anything to jfi with a horse like. Rapier

Morgan O'Brien continues his series on the veteran racing trainers