RACING RICHEST RACE IN N.Z. TODAY

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30965, 22 January 1966, Page 6

RACING RICHEST RACE IN N.Z. TODAY

Big Field For Wellington Cup At Trentham

(From Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON.

A quality and near capacity field will run for fame and 15,000 guineas in the Wellington Cup, New Zealand’s richest race, at Trentham today.

There is marked respect for the great record of southern stayers in Trentham’s biggest race of the year and it seems likely that favouritism today will be disputed by three Southland-owned and trained runners, Cassarook, Court Belle and Eiffel Tower.

Cassarook and Court Belle are from Gore and Eiffel Tower, last year’s winner, is from Riverton. The condition of the three southerners could hardly be faulted when they exercised at Trentham yesterday. R. J. Cochrane, who trains Courte Belle, and E. A. Winsloe, who prepares C jarook. were apprentices in the same stable in the 194fi’s. Now they are two of New Zealand's most successful trainers, but this will be the first time they have saddled rival candidates for the Wellington Cup.

Cochrane rode Cassarook and had Court Belle on the lead on the course at Trentham yesterday. “This would be my big chance to get a tough rival out of the way,” Cochrane remarked jocularly. “I just have to give Cassarook a kick and send him down the road and I’ll have fewer worries about the Wellington Cup.” Cochrane believes Cassarook will be the hardest for Court Belle to beat. E. A. Winsloe, with Cassarook also has more respect for Court Belle than for any other runner. As in nearly every race of any importance the luck of the running will count for a lot.

When they met in the Invercargill Gold Cup earlier in the month, Cassarook had all the breaks and won narrowly from Court Belle, which did not having anything like the same luck. For that head defeat Court Belle will meet Cassarook 91b better in the Wellington Cup. It is a strong immediate advantage,-and one that could be turned to good account by Court Belle’s rider, R. J. Skelton. Skelton has won four Wellington Cups, and hopes for another victory with Court Belle.

On performance, potential, and the high standard of his latest gallops Bandon seems

the one most likely to end the string of South Island victories in the race. Shipmate, Starlit and Trial Offer may be the pick of the field for the Telegraph Handicap, second leg of the T.A.B. double. The Telegraph Handicap field is packed with speedsters, and a still warm day at Trentham would ensure a fast time for the sii furlongs. Just as certain is another fast gallop in the Wellington Stakes, a race for two-and-three-year-olds run over the same distance. The unbeaten two-year-old, Prince d’Amour, probably will be favourite, but he will have to run the race of his life to beat the three-year-olds, Devastation and Fairfleet, at the distance. Devastation winner of the Wellington Guineas, the C.J.C. Churchill Stakes, and an open sprint at Hastings at New Year, is believed to be still improving. He has certainly thrived since he last raced, and his finish at the end of six fast-run furlongs will be hard to match. Another attractive winning prospect on the programme is Miss Mya, top-weight and a last start winner, in the Fitzherbert Handicap, a six-fur-long race for two-year-old fillies.

The Fitzherbert Handicap is the second leg of the oncourse double. The first leg of this double is the Pencarrow Handicap, for which Empire King, Court Duchess and the Riccarton-trained Pharasal are fancied most.