AVONDALE NEXT FOR WEENELL

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 4

AVONDALE NEXT FOR WEENELL

Weenell and Palamos, which dominated betting and the finish of the Welcome Stakes at Riccarton on Saturday, will not race again at the New Zealand Cup meeting.

Weenell, which shook off Palamos’s determined challenge to win by half a neck, will probably have her next start in the Avondale Stakes. “Five furlongs is just a bit short for our fellow and we’ll wait for the rich sixfurlong races later in the season,” said Palamos’s Awapuni part-owner and trainer, E, G. Rosewarne, on Saturday. Weenell, now unbeaten in three starts, is raced in partnership by Mr P. Davis, of Upper Hutt and Mrs S. A. Brown, the wife of the Empire Way filly’s trainer. Mr Davis, who has been ill and was unable to be at Riccarton on Saturday, bred Weenell’s dam, Nell, and had some success with her. A few weeks after he transferred Nell to Brown’s stable the tracks deteriorated in the North Island, giving the mare

no chances to race in conditions to her liking. Brown suggested to Mr Davis that he should send the mare to a stallion instead of waiting for another racing season.

Mr Davis offered Brown a half-share in the mare as a breeding proposition, and this share was transferred to Mrs Brown. When Nell was sent to Empire Way. which was “in the boom” at the time the agreement was that if the produce was a colt it would be sent to the yearling sales. If it was a filly it would he kept for racing.

The tiny Empire Way filly horn the following year was not very old when she started to show great speed in her paddock gallops. Now she has become one of the two-year-old stars of the spring racing. Sharif, another youngster from Woodville, completed the rout of the South Island runners on Saturday by finishing third a length and a half behind Palamos.

He was eight lengths clear of the Ricearton-trained Equal Chance, which shaded Elloughton.