Roganne May Finish Double For Trainer

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31195, 20 October 1966, Page 4

Roganne May Finish Double For Trainer

Twelve months ago the Cambridge trainer, W. W. Townsend, brought Creolian to Trentham for only one race and took him home again with a 100 per cent record. Creolian won the Watkins Handicap, a race in which Roganne and Mr Fagan will give the Townsend stable strong representation again on Saturday.

Roganne will be trying to improve a very good record under topweight of 9-4 in the Watkins Handicap. Mr Fagan is one of the light-weights in the first leg of the Wellington Racing Club’s T.A.B. double.

Roganne made an Impressive start to his five-year-old racing by carrying 9-0 to victory in the Ralph Somers Memorial Handicap at Te Aroha at the beginning of this month;

A week later he carried 9-4 into fourth place in the Mitchelson Cup at Ellerslie. But for an interrupted run in that race he might have kept his winning record intact. Mr Fagan has not won this season but he is weighted accordingly. He will receive 30 lb from his stablemate and looks to have a very good

chance of improving on a sequence of minor placings in major handicaps in the Auckland district.

UNLUCKY LAST WEEK The closest to Roganne in the weights is Lucky Rebel, which was considered unlucky not to have finished closer than fourth in the Wellington Handicap last Saturday. With a more favourable run this week Lucky Rebel could be one of the hardest to beat.

The prospect of firmer ground is unlikely to help Big Bill make amends for his Wellington Handicap failure. Summer Magic, on the other hand, prefers firm footing. For that reason his Wellington Handicap third was a firstclass effort. No-one will be surprised if he gives the South Island another victory at the meeting—he will not have Manana or Tinsel to contend with this time.

Gus's weak showing in the Wellington Handicap indicated that he might still need

further racing before regaining peak form. There was nothing about Laramie’s performance last week which suggested a winning run was close at hand. Mukupai is noted more for ability up to a mile than beyond, but if F. C. Pratt can produce him as fit as he was when he won the Winter Cup at Riccarton in August he could still be one of the principal contenders. Shut’s run in the Wainui Handicap last Saturday had none of the characteristics of some of his very good performances, but there is every possibility that the luck of the running went against him—as it did against several others —in that packed field of milers.

Red Crest, the beaten favourite in the Wellington Handicap in which he was never clear, might find it hard to make amends for that defeat unless the ground becomes easy again.

Although Roman Consul has been consistently close in most of his races this season he has not managed to recapture his very good three-year-old form.

The tendency this season has been to ride him in or close to the pace. His best efforts last season were characterised by strong finishing runs. He won the New Zealand Derby and the Gloaming Stakes so there can be no doubt about his ability to manage 11 furlongs. MAY HAVE CHANCE

In the past Vigour has looked a bit below top metropolitan class but his last-start defeat of Surf Boy in the Waverley Cup and the latter’s subsequent win in the Wainui Handicap last Saturday entitle him to be considered among the stronger prospects.

Of the others toward the tail of the handicap, apart from Mr Fagan, the best could be John Derry. He ran a fair race for seventh in the Wellington Handicap last Saturday. Another good run was his close second to Shut in the T. H. Lowry Memorial Handicap at Hastings last month. Rehandicapped (N.Z. Press Association) WANGANUI. For hds win tn the Flying Handicap at Hawera, Rochdale has been rehanddcapped Gib to 9-S in the October Handicap at the Waikato Racing Club’s meeting on Labour Day. Geelong Gup (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) GEELONG (Victoria.) Craftsman won the Geelong Cup yesterday, beating Royal Coral and the New Zealand-bred Alaska.