RACING Stakes Should Be Easy For Ben Lomond

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31587, 26 January 1968, Page 4

RACING Stakes Should Be Easy For Ben Lomond

Ben Lomond should set the seal on his class, by beating one contemporary and some distinguished elders at weight-for-age in the Trentham Stakes on the final day of the Wellington Cup meeting tomorrow.

Ben Lomond’s easy win in the Wellington Derby on Monday, after an equally easy win in the Great Northern Derby, has him firmly established as one of the best staying three-year-olds for many years.

It is clear, also, that he has made steady improvement since the spring, this improvement becoming marked as he stepped up to the longer distances.

His record-breaking run for a mile and a half on Monday hardly left room for doubt about his class.

Weight-for-age races usually provide the final test of class, because they never conform to a pattern, and are often battles of tactics.

Races of this type usually show the handy horses to advantage—horses that can find sharp sprints at the end of muddling races, or, as some times happens, horses that can be patiently ridden in front.

It might be too much to expect Aquarelle to make such a fast gallop in front again, as she did in the Wellington Derby. But everyone will be hop-

ing for a truly-run race. Ben Lomond, with only 8.0. should best meet the demands of such a race. Older Rivals Distinguished rivals for the Cambridge colt are Loofah, Tatua and Palisade. Four-year-olds do not win the Wellington Cup out of their turn, and last Saturday’s winner, Loofah, could be still making steady improvement, and enough of it to fit him for all the demands of weight-for-age class. Palisade, at 10 years, has lost some of that sharp edge of form that made him a great force in the summer and autumn racing of two years ago. But he could not be condemned for an unplaced run in the Asian Conference Handicap on Monday. None of the breaks went his way in that race and many younger rivals of good class could not have equalled his run for eighth under 9.5 in such circumstances.

Tatua, a good winner at weight-for-age in the north, is holding his form well into this, his ninth year. He had a cramped rails run in the Wellington Cup, in which he finished sixth. In running fifth in the Asian Racing Conference Handicap he was forced over a lot of

ground around the home turn, and it was hardly surprising that he came to the end of his run after joining the leading line near the furlong. Tougher Test Arnie, the runner-up in the Asian Racing Conference Handicap with 8.3, is a mare of fine physique, but 8.11 over a mile and a half in this class sets her a formidable task. Empyreus has winning form on his record this season, but he is not the Empyreus of three seasons ago, and anything short of his great three-year-old form will hardly be adequate for this occasion. The George Adams Handicap, one of the great races of the year for milers, the Wellington Racing Handicap, one mile and a half, the City Handicap, six furlongs, for open sprinters, and the Hopeful Stakes, for two-year-olds, are other major races on the programme.

The T.A.B. double will be on the Wellington Racing Club Handicap and George Adams Handicap. Fairfleet and Tara’s Pride could be the successful combination. There will be an on-course double on the Wallaceville High-weight and the Ruapehu Intermediate Handicap. Adams Handicap. Fairfleet a