RACING FAVOURITES’ DOUBLE AT TRENTHAM

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31363, 8 May 1967, Page 4

RACING FAVOURITES’ DOUBLE AT TRENTHAM

Point Duty—High Glee At Short Odds

Many people struck the Wellington Racing Club’s T.A.B. double at Trentham on Saturday—and lost money.

Many who regarded the brilliant High Glee as a “leg in” were not so sure of finding the winner on the Gloaming Stakes Handicap in one.

Those who “shopped around” and had half a dozen runners and more running for them in the first leg, the Gloaming Stakes Handicap, had the worst possible result when Point Duty, the strongest fancy, beat Dalvui by inches.

Point Duty, the strong by inches. It was a case of many getting a little. More than 41,400 tickets were held on the Point Duty—High Glee combination, which paid £lO 18s 6d for £l. Game Run Point Duty, a bargain missed at the 1962 sales—he was passed in at 175gns—was not the most robust looking contender for Gloaming Stakes honours, but his gameness shone through in a battling finish with Dalvui. Point Duty was vigorously ridden by R. B. Marsh, who, although the top apprentice, had not ridden a winner at Trentham. Point Duty is a five-year-old brown gelding by Arragon from Jabiru, owned by Messrs D. Di Mattina and G. Tesoriero, who exercised a right of purchase from Mr L. Elliott, of Wanganui, earlier in the season. Point Duty's dam, Jabiru, had imported parents, Finis and Falcon. Before she foaled a thoroughbred, Jabiru foaled to a pony stallion. Point Duty was the produce of her first mating with Arragon.

Disadvantage Dalvui, which was attempting his third successive win, came through Saturday’s race with many of the honours. He carried 191 b more than the winner, and was virtual pacemaker for a long way, being left to lead the pack when Kintyre was hurried out to a long lead in the first halfmile. A second Point Duty-Dalvui clash at the meeting would have been an attraction, but Dalvui is not an acceptor for the Waterloo Handicap on Wednesday. In this shorter (11 furlongs) race Point Duty has gone up 91b to 8-4, which makes him third topweight behind the South Islanders, Court Belle (8-8) and Careen GMS).

Court Belle had no luck in the running in the Gloaming Stakes, and was one of the tail-enders. She was forced back on the inside near the five furlongs, which is often

a trouble spot in Trentham races. Lucky Rebel, Jen Hal, and Mixed Reception, the next best to Point Duty and Dalvui on Saturday, are also engaged in the Waterloo Handicap.

The Riccarton-trained Manana was sixteenth in the Gloaming Stakes. The solid pace on a firm track was beyond him at this distance, and after making a run around the outside near the home turn he wilted. He will have another chance on Wednesday, when he should be helped by the shorter distance. Disappointing though he was on Saturday, he was no worse than Mr Fagan, which came in for solid Auckland and Waikato support and started second favourite. Brilliant Sprint High Glee improved a brilliant record over the Trentham six-furlong course in the Wadestown Handicap on Saturday. This was her third win at six furlongs at Trentham this year. Top-weight of 9-5 dulled little if any of her great brilliance. G. L. Willetts’s only worry in the race was to stop her from loafing.

Like most free runners, High Glee did not quicken much if at all when Willetts gave her two or three cracks with the whip inside the furlong, but by that time the record - breaking Waikato sprinter had the race safely won. High Glee was chased home by Wavering, Floodlit, and Scramble. Floodlit, like High Glee, is not engaged on the second day of the meeting, but Wavering and Scramble will meet again in the Port Nicholson Handicap, seven furlongs. To add interest to this race are Min Flicka and Nenagh, principals in the finish of the first Cuddle Stakes on Saturday. Showed Courage Min Flicka showed courage in a sustained battle with Nenagh on Saturday—courage that had characterised her

bearing when in a bad way with scouring trouble ,in Melbourne in the spring of 1965. Royal Chase, a fair seventh in the Wadestown Handicap on Saturday, will be another runner for S. A. Brown’s stable in the Port Nicholson Handicap.

Pharasal, Gladaub, Glamis Lad and Her Pal, South Island horses in the Port Nicholson Handicap field, did nothing noteworthy on Saturday. But Pharasal would have had to have been a super horse to come from last and reach a place against High Glee and company in the Wadestown Handicap. As it was he did not do at all badly to finish eighth of 17.