RACING No Rider Engaged For Prince d’Amour

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30892, 27 October 1965, Page 4

RACING No Rider Engaged For Prince d’Amour

"The Press" Special Service

PALMERSTON NORTH.

New Zealand’s top two-year-old Prince d’Amour, has no rider yet for the A. R. C. Welcome Stakes, his next racing assignment, and his trainer, E. Temperton, will not engage a jockey for him until he has heard from his regular rider, R. W. Taylor, in Australia.

Temperton is holding the engagement open for Taylor, who has expressed disappointment with the Austra--1 ban race form of Em-

pyreus. Should he I decide to make an early ' trip home, he would almost certainly ride Prince d’Amour in the fourth start of his career.

Taylor rode Prince D’Amour in his first two starts, winning at Otaki and the Welesley Stakes at Trentham. When he flew to Australia, Temperton booked J. R. Dowling for the W.R.C. Karitane Handicap and G. F. Hughes for the Welcome Stakes. But Hughes is not able to carry out his contract at Ellerslie where he will be required for a mount from the G. W. B. Greene stable. Dowling will be at Riccarton on Welcome Stakes day to ride members of E. Ropiha’s team.

Meanwhile Taylor’s plans depend almost entirely on Empyreus, which will start next Saturday in the L. K. S. MacKinnon Stakes. Prince D’Amour has done exceptionally well since his latest easy success and indications are he will strip perfectly fit for his first run right-handed. Prince D'Amour, a speedy chestnut by Bourbon Prince, is the thirty-sixth horse Mr N. Beder, of Palmerston North, has raced in his 15year association with galloping.

Apart from Prince D’Amour, the most impressive youngster seen out at the recent Trentham meeting was Floodlit, a strong bay colt by the Australian sire Wilkes from Mr W. R. Stead's smart mare, Cabonne. Floodlit, in the third start of his career, came with a phenomenal burst of speed over the last furlong and a half to run Rag Doll and

Miss Mod very close in the Roseneath Handicap. He is trained at Hastings by K. Couper, the man who “made” Rio.

Couper asked N. Eastwood to keep the colt back and give him time to balance. “Eastwood never lets me down,” Couper said after the race, delighted with the showing of his charge. Fast as the colt is, Couper does not intend racing him much at two years. “I wanted to have him gelded before now,” the trainer admitted. "Unless he goes better at the Napier Park meeting I shall advise Mr Stead again to geld him and set him aside,” he said.

Later on, Floodlit could develop into one of the country’s leading gallopers. Meanwhile he promises to touch a short price on his home track at Hastings. Te Rapa racegoers will see Selwyn in action at the November meeting. He will be nominated for brush hurdle events at the club’s summer meeting. Meanwhile his stablemate Royal Ransom, earlier booked for the New Zealand Cup, will run at the Napier Park fixture.

Selwyn stifled himself on both hind legs during the running of last Monday’s Rona Hurdles at Trentham, but for which he would undoubtedly have gone closer. His trainer, A. McDonald, believes the brush obstacles will suit him better, and he considers also that the roomy track at Te Rapa will be made to order for him. Cup Hope E. Ropiha has decided to concentrate on the Auckland Cup with his Pearce Handicap winner, Dervish. Meanwhile, his main problem will be conditioning him for the race without incurring too much weight. Dervish is a comparatively small horse, one which could hardly be expected to master welter poundage in metropolitan company, so Ropiha will switch him to hurdling in an effort to give him the necessary racing to see out the two miles.

Dervish, which schools attractively, could make an instant success of hurdle racing. It is quite likely that he will be taken north as early as possible for a look at the right-handed tracks. Meanwhile, Arakhan con-

tinues to thrive fn his Auckland Cup preparation. He is a vastly-improved galloper this season, one which should have little difficulty in managaing extreme distances.

As a long-range target for this brilliant chestnut. Golden Prince, Ropiha has selected the Easter Handicap at Ellerslie in ApriL Everything the horse does in the meantime will be designed to have him right at his peak for the Easter and sponsored mile races next autumn.