SAIL AWAY NOW EQUAL FAVOURITE FOR CUP

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30896, 1 November 1965, Page 4

SAIL AWAY NOW EQUAL FAVOURITE FOR CUP

Win In Hotham Silences Critics Of Trainer

[From J. J. BOYLE, Racing Editor for “The Press.”!

MELBOURNE.

A group of excited young New Zealanders greeted Sail Away and W. D. Skelton with a haka after the Woodville stayer won the Hotham Handicap at Flemington on Saturday.

Sail Away’s convincing win at a mile and a half made him equal favourite with Matloch for tomorrow’s Melbourne Cup.

His win also vindicated the programme followed over the last few weeks by his trainer, S. A. Brown, who has taken a verbal mauling from Australian writers and commentators for keeping the Tsaoko gelding as busy as he has been.

The Hotham Handicap was Sail Away’s ninth race since he arrived in Australia in September, but he needed every one of them—and a Lydiard programme on the training tracks to bring him to the fitness required to win a big staying race.

Sail Away’s win on Saturday silenced the criticism.

The medium-sized bay five-year-old paraded looking solid and bright on a hot sultry afternoon and Skelton rode him skilfully and confidently to a length win over Tea Biscuit which just beat the three-to-one favourite, Strauss. Brushed Rail In the race he brushed the inside rail just after leaving the straight when one of his rivals switched ground suddenly and he returned minus a bit of skin and with a patch of whitewash above his near hind leg. Skelton, who has been criticised for much of his earlier handling of the horse, rode on Saturday as if he had been riding at Flemington all his life.

He had the rails run when it mattered much of the way around to the half-mile, then he brought Sail Away into a position where he could be clear in a stride or two on straightening up. Two furlongs out only Rack and Ruin and Tea Biscuit were ahead of Sail Away but the New Zealand stayer ran up to them quickly and mastered them outside the furlong. Tea Biscuit, a lightly-support-ed four-year-old by the former Riccarton star, Dalray, was lucky to beat Strauss for second.

There was only half a head in it but Strauss was ridden over-confidently by the Sydney jockey, D. Lake.

Close to home Lake could see he was well beaten by Sail Away and he eased on the fancied four-year-old to the dismay of supporters of I Sail Away and Strauss on the quinella. Reserve In Cup The 1962 New Zealand Derby winner. Algaion, was fourth in the Hotham Handicap. He was close behind Sail Away at the half-mile but could not find the same finishing speed. Aigalon is first reserve for Melbourne Cup, in which he was fourth last year, but he could only be regarded as the second string cup hope for the G. M. Hanlon stable.

Aigalon is owned by Mr and Mrs L. S. Reid, who also have Matloch in the Cup field. Matloch started in the weight-for-age Mackinnon Stakes on Saturday and carried 151 b over his cup weight into fourth place behind Yangtze, Captain Blue and Light Fingers. Matloch carried 9st and drops to 7st 131 b in the Cup. in which he will be ridden by J. Johnson, who has won the race on Gatum Gatum. Matloch, a strong bay by Balloch from Ganymeade (by Gold Nib), was ridden far off the pace in the Mackinnon Stakes and was giving Yangtze and Captain Blue an impossible start at the half-mile. For nearly every yard of the way to that point the pace had been leisurely and when the sprint started it was almost impossible for the back runners to do the right thing by their supporters. Felt Ground Craftsman, which was the Melbourne Cup favourite at six-to-one on the course before the first race on Saturday, dominated betting on the Mackinnon Stakes. But he was feeling the ground in his preliminary and was nodding when he walked back after finishing fifth. Craftsman was the tailender to the three furlongs and could pass only three in the straight. The horse immediately behind him at the finish was Empyreus, the outsider but one in the field of eight Connexions of the Hastingstrained chestnut were hopeful of a bold run after a good gallop last Thursday, but the North Island jockey, R. N. Taylor, gave up hope half a mile out in the race.

It is doubtful if Empyreus’s campaign will be continued after this weak run. Taylor hopes to return to New Zealand this week to ride at Ellerslie next Saturday.

Australian-breds filled the first three places in the £20,000 V.R.C. Derby, but the winner, Tobin Bronze, is by a stallion now in New Zealand. The Adelaide-trained Tobin Bronze is by Arctic Explorer, a well performed English stayer bought for Australia for nearly £50,000, but sold cheaply to Mr G. Sutherland’s Jedburgh Stud at Cambridge after his stock had failed to show in two-year-old races.

Tobin Bronze was easily the best stayer in a non-staying race on Saturday. He had to run the mile and a half in only 2min 34sec to win by two lengths from Midlander, which beat Diocletian by a neck.

Tobin Bronze is owned by Messrs A., D. C., and W. E. Brown, wealthy scrap metal merchants in Adelaide. They have raced several good horses and their best before Tobin Bronze were Iron Ore, Red Brass, Nickel Shot, and Red Metal. To Carry Scale Tobin Bronze has been rehandicapped 31b to carry scale weight of 7.6 in the Melbourne Cup. The first of the New Zea-land-breds home in the V.R.C. Derby was Fulmen (Le FilouDulcie), a tiring fourth. P. Glennon, not long back from overseas, found he did not have a three-year-old of the quality of Sea Bird under

him when he tried to steal the Derby on Fulmen. The heavily-backed Star Affair showed his distance limitations by failing to stay in a non-staying race. He was sixth. The Cambridge-bred Prince Grant could be excused for his failure to complete the Derby double. D. Lake looked for the rails run with him leaving the straight and struck trouble, then was galloped on near the five furlongs. He came to the straight badly placed on the inside behind a tight bunch of horses. Made Progress He made some progress under vigorous handling but came to the end of his run short of the post and finished fifth. Prince Grant is still in the field for the Melbourne Cup. Te Parae failed to justify favouritism for the Wakeful Stakes but the New Zealandbred filly’s third was still a very good Oaks trial. Te Parae’s performance was almost certainly affected by seasonal trouble, but her class and gameness carried her into the money after she had looked beaten on the home turn. Te Parae finished about a length and a half from the winner, Fire Band, a daughter of the big winner, Hydrogen. Fire Band was ridden by W. A. Smith, who said beforehand that he felt confident of winning if he was allowed to give the filly time to find her feet.

Fire Band was third to last early in the race, eighth at the half-mile and seventh on the home turn, but was challenging Royal Dress and Te Parae for the lead near the furlong. She was quickly widening her lead in the last half-fur-long.

Rio is another New Zealand-

bred close to winning form. He dead-heated with Bowl King for fourth in the £6200 Craven A Stakes over six furlongs.

The Canterbury-bred My Pal gelding made ground in the final two furlongs with a run that was bound to attract interest in view of engagements later at the meeting. Rio could win one of the big mile races at the meeting. The prospects are not as bright for Dark Smudge, a stable-mate of Sail Away. Dark Smudge was one of the failures in the Smithfield Handicap, a mile race for three-year-olds on Saturday. Dark Smudge had an infected leg last Thursday. The Alcimedes gelding did not miss any work, but Brown is afraid that the injections given for the leg trouble might have taken the edge off the horse’s form. Bets Refused The Derby Day programme got away to an unusual start through the failure of the bookmakers to bet on a straighUout basis on the £4lOO Maribyrnong Plate for two-year-olds. There were only five acceptors for the five-furlong race and four were left to run after Redolent pulled a muscle in the sand roll on the morning of the race. This left the Sydney filly, Very Merry, appearing to be a certainty, and that is how it turned out.

The Wilkes filly streaked away and won by 10 lengths from Olympic Star, which beat Hyperions by 15 lengths. Very Merry paid a win diviend on the totalisator of 5s 6d —odds of 10 to one on. Bookmakers bet Quinella on the event as a substitute for straight-out betting.