RACING St. Leger Winner Was Swapped For Mare

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31323, 20 March 1967, Page 5

RACING St. Leger Winner Was Swapped For Mare

The veteran North Island studmaster Mr J. A. Mitchell won his second New Zealand St. Leger on Saturday with a horse he secured as a swap for a brood mare.

Jay Ay, which brought off one of the biggest surprises of the year in beating Star Belle in the £2500 Trentham classic, was bred by Mr G. A. Mitchell, a son of the Santa Rosa studmaster. The swap was made for the Foxbridge mare, All Serene, now 20 years old.

Jay Ay’s dam Passive won the classic for Mr J. A. Mitchell 10 years ago. Jay Ay was brilliantly rated in front by R. A. Jenkins on Saturday, and the Macquarie gelding drew on an impressive store of gameness and stamina to battle off a chal-

lenge from Star Belle in the straight. When Star Belle quickly took a gap betwen Avro and Nautical to go after Jay Ay near the home turn nearly everyone thought the race was as good as over. Everyone, perhaps, but the filly’s rider, R. J. Skelton. Skelton found the filly had little but gameness left after

having pulled hard most of the first half of the race. Star Belle almost got level, but Jay Ay would not give an inch in the last 50 yards. Skelton was charged with not riding the filly right out over the concluding stages. The judicial committee heard evidence from a stipendiary steward and a statement from Skelton, and inspected a film of the race. Skelton, acknowledging that he had not used the whip until the last stride or two, said that in his opinion his riding over the concluding stages got the best out of the filly

and that she was beaten on her merits. The committee took into account that Star Belle had pulled fairly hard most of the race and accepted Skelton’s explanation. Jay Ay, the 3-2 favourite, paid £lO Os 6d to win in his third Trentham victory this year. When betting opened on the race Star Belle was paying less than £1 on both machines. She carried £5369 10s on the win machine and a total of £7863 of the £14,671 10s bet on the race. Jay Ay carried £628 for a win and £1399 10s for a place. The scratching of the New Zealand Derby winner, Fair Account, left little in the way of class in the rest of the field, and Nautical (third) was in a gap five lengths behind Star Belle.