RACING Sixteen Excellent Gallopers In Invitation Stakes

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31627, 13 March 1968, Page 4

RACING Sixteen Excellent Gallopers In Invitation Stakes

••The Press” Special Service

AUCKLAND.

The leading three-year-olds of this season and 1966-67, and the New Zealand record-holder for a mile and a half are included in the field declared yesterday for the $6380 Stars Travel Invitation Stakes at Tauranga on March 30.

The committee of the Bay of Plenty Racing Club settled on 16 horses for the big race, five fewer than the safety number for the 10| furlongs.

The record - holder in the field is Fairfleet, for a mileand a half. Fairfleet ran her great time, 2:27], when she won at Trentham in January. tn addition, the present champion three-year-old, Ben Lomond, has the New Zealand mile and a half record for a three-year-old to his credit, 2min 27fsec, established in the Wellington Derby last January. Ben Lomond is one of three of his age which have been invited to the race. The other two are Nausori, which has a claim to be one of the best milers of the season, and the New Zealand and Great Northern Oaks winner, Aquarelle. Under the weight-for-age conditions of the event, Ben Lomond and Nausori will carry 8-4 and Aquarelle, which is able to claim a filly’s allowance, 8-1. Of the other 12 in the field, five are four-year-olds, three are five-year-olds, two are seven-year-olds, and there is one six-year-old and one eight-year-old (Tatua)

They include an Auckland Cup winner, Bright Chief, and two Wellington Cup winners, Michael Molloy and Loofah. Notable Trio Loofah and Point Duty from Levin, and Aquarelle from Stratford, make up a notable trio of visitors from outside the Auckland and Waikato districts. The club had hoped that Next Please, from Riccarton, would represent the South Island, but the horse is now spelling. The inclusion of Michael Molloy is specially interesting. One of the five-year-olds which have been invited, Michael Molloy has not started since May of last year. In the preceding summer he showed himself one of the top stayers with a fourth in the Auckland Cup and a close second in the A.R.C. Queen Elizabeth Handicap as well as his Wellington Cup win. Trained in those days by J. H. Hely at Te Rapa, Michael Molloy is now being prepared mainly at Papamoa, on the coast near Tauranga by his owner, Mr S. Caddigan, although he attends the Tauranga course for his fast work

Michael Molloy is expected to resume racing with a sprint on the first day of the Bay of Plenty meeting. In the meantime a gallop with Nausori is being planned for him between races at Paeroa on Saturday. It was expected that 14 horses would be invited to race, but the club’s committee, with the handicapper and the facing Writers’ Association. who had been asked to assist, was unable to decide on three to be eliminated. “The number has therefore been left at 16,” said the secretary, Mr I. S. C. McEwen, “with the thought that as the race is some distance off there could be two or three scratchings.” The invitations to owners were sent yesterday. Fifteen of the 16, Mr McEwen said, had notified the club they would accept. Arnie Out However, it is now certain that Arnie will not race. Eailier, it had been reported that she had broken down, but according to her trainer, W. Sanders, she has been blistered and turned out to spell. Sanders said the hard tracks were against her, and she would be out for two or three months. The 15 horses invited are: —Amie (Te Awamutu), Aquarelle (Stratford), Barellan (Te Awamutu), Bardowie

(Cambridge), Ben Lomond (Cambridge), Bright Chief (Matamata), Dee Dee (Cambridge), Fairfleet (Matamata), Loofah (Levin), Michael Molloy (Tauranga), Nausori (Takanini), Pell Mell (Cambridge), Point Duty (Levin), Star Belle (Takanini), Styx (Te Rapa), and Tatua (Te Awamutu).