CINNAMAN’S FUTURE IN DOUBT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31139, 16 August 1966, Page 4

CINNAMAN’S FUTURE IN DOUBT

Cinnaman might not race again. Mr and Mrs J. C. Irving’s spectacular jumper damaged the ligaments of his near fore leg when he landed awkardly at Cutts’s brush on the final round of the Lincoln Steeplechase at Riccarton on Saturday.

Cinnaman was examined by a veterinary surgeon after he returned to Blenheim on Sunday. Yesterday the leg was to have been X-rayed. The result probably will determine whether his racing career is finished.

Although Cinnaman did little of account on the flat—his only success was in the Trial Stakes at Nelson in 1961 —he was entirely different when switched to jumping and was successful in that role at his first attempt—in the Longbeach Hurdles at Riccarton, his first race as a five-year-old. Another race Cinnaman won at Riccarton while still in the hack class was the Spreydon Hurdles at the Grand National meeting in 1963. BEST SEASON Cinnaman, now a 10-year-old, has raced over country for the last two seasons. He won three races, including the Wanganui Steeplechase, at eight, but the season just ended was his best by far. Cinnaman's earnings as a nine-year-old amounted to £3775. He started last season by finishing second to Koral in the Grand National Steeplechase and then won the Beaufort Steeples on the second day of the Grand National meeting. Those placings were worth £1250. But Cinnaman’s most important success was in the Balmoral Steeplechase, worth £1950 to the winner, at the Royal meeting held at Ellerslie in May. The balance of his earnings last season came from a second to Ringlock in the Waikato Steeples and a fourth in the Matai Steeples at Trentham last month. The best that Cinnaman could manage on his campaign at the Grand National meeting this year was a third in

the Beaufort Steeplechase. But : the £lOO he earned for that placing brought his total earn- | ings for his Blenheim owners ' to £BOl5. YOUNGER SISTER J Whatever the outcome of i yesterday’s X-ray both Mr ; Irving and the horse's trainer, 1 R. B. Taylor, are almost con- : vinced that Cinnaman will not race again. But they should ' be able to look forward to : another very good season with i Cinnaman’s younger half-sister Careen. Careen, which has always 1 shaped like a stayer but until 1 now has best been noted for 1 her ability as a miler, will do i most of her racing over the 1

middle distances In future. Mr Irving’s six-year-old Dogger Bank mare improved a very sound record at Riccar, ton with seconds in the Winter Cup and Heathcote Handicap on the first two days of the Grand National meeting and a decisive victory against the open milers in the August Handicap last Saturday. Careen’s spring campaign at Trentham in October has not yet been decided, but her next staying test will be in the Wattie Gold Cup at the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club’s meeting towards the end of next month. As a preparation for that race she will compete against the open sprinters at Marton on September 17.