Homeby Great Value As National Trial

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31123, 28 July 1966, Page 4

Homeby Great Value As National Trial

Homeby Steeplechase form is form to respect in search for the Grand National winner, and in what is generally regarded as a “wide open” year, the Christchurch Hunt Club’s £lOOO race at Riccarton on Saturday will come in for careful attention.

r over country in the last few , weeks. ) Last year John’s Mistake ran third to Koral and Cinnai man in the Homeby and 1 fourth to Koral, Cinnaman, f and Flying Swift in the Grand j National. • Hely’s Mount i John’s Mistake will be rids den by J. H. Hely, who has ? already won Homeby-Grand National doubles on Young 1 Prince, Cogitation, and Golds en Defaulter. > Now nearing the end of a i distinguished riding career, F Hely should feel fairly confis dent of improving a great i- record over Riccarton country. Test For Youth 3 G. C. Mee, a 17-year-old 1 and less than half the age of 1 some of his rival jockeys, will i- face an important test on s Linred, one of the discoveries 1 of the year in the South t Island. Linred won over Riccarton i a year ago, but he has only *- brought himself into reckon- • ing as a potential star in the last few weeks. In that time i he has assembled a record of 1 three wins in as many starts ’ over the Washdyke course. > * This close relation of Great > Sensation is a sure, quick !j jumper. Young Mee has ridi den him with a lot of conflidence well off the pace for s |the first mile or so and has I had a ready response when ! ,he has asked for something •extra. He certainly appears to ’■hold a strong chance of reacht| ing one of the places in the >' Homeby if he is not asked •to give fast horses like : i Henry a big start over the > final half-mile. • The Homeby Steeplechase ■ might confirm earlier impres- ’ sions of the weakness of the 1 jumping ranks in the North ' Island this season. A win by either Linred er ’ John’s Mistake would prove l.that true.

The Homeby is run over two miles and a half, or a mile short of the Grand National distance. It is usually run on good ground, and victory usually eludes those lacking sharp speed and ability to jump the big brushes quickly. Brookby Song was the Homeby third just before he scored his brilliant Grand National win under 12-7 in 1948. In the meantime eight horses have carried off the Hornby - Grand National double. They were Bandmaster (1951) Fairhome (1952), Young Prince (1954). Treasure Ring (1955), Cogitation (1957), Golden Defaulter (1962), John O’Groats (1964), and Koral (1965). No Offence did not run in the Homeby the year of his Grand National victory, 1963, but he is one of five North Islanders in the field on Saturday. and if jumping ability has the final bearing on the race he could win. No Offence is second topweight with 10-5. and is one pound below Prince Robin,! which has earned his rating with wins this year in the Wellington. Manawatu, and Wanganui Steeplechases. ■ Good Stayer Prince Robin’s three North ■ Island wins showed he was strong in stamina with abil-‘ ity on holding and heavy, tracks. ! Riccarton conditions should be altogether different from those that showed Prince Robin to such advantage in the north, and the Marton-owned and trained Robin’s Reward gelding will have earned top marks for versatility if he can make an immediate impression on his first South Island jumping campaign. Wheroma. the Wellington Steeplechase second, and Henrv. winner of the Matai and Riddiford Steeplechases following a second in the hack

steeplechase on the first day of the Wellington meeting, are two more newcomers to Riccarton. ' Wheroma is 11 but a sprightly veteran. He raced for the last six furlongs of 1 the Wellington Steeplechase ' with his tongue over the bit, 1 so his second was creditable. > Henry is the youngest he is seven—of the North : Island jumpers, and there is ! every reason for believing • that he is still improving. The same might not hold • true for Koral, winner of this ■ race last year before complet- • ing a spectacular grand slam ’at the Canterbury Jockey , Club's meeting by adding the 1 Grand National and the Lin- > coin Steeplechases. ' Disappointing i Koral has not come back to s perform the deeds expected , of him this year. He was third i in the Hawke’s Bay Ceuten- - nial Steeplechase, but it was f a lack-lustre run in a field >; he would have put away with ease a few months earlier. - Earlier he was unplaced in : the Great Northern Steeple,l chase and third in the Wai;kato Steeplechase. • | Still short of his sixth I birthday, Koral has time on his side, and the Riccarton crowds who were treated to his spectacular campaign a iyear ago will still be hoping: i;for a stronger patch of form! ; from the grey. ■ ‘ Before he was taken to the ■ North Island this year Koral' iran second to John’s Mistake' I in the- Great Western Steeple-' i chase at Riverton. John’s Mistake had also! • won the Birchwood Hunt! I meeting at Invercargill at his I start before the Great West-! • ern, but in the meantime the, i Gore-trained Super gelding ■ has been kept to flat racing. I It has been a campaign designed to have John's Mistake i at his peak for a Riccarton I campaign, and it might pay i off handsomely at the exiipense of some of the horses ; that have had hard racing,