TROTTING Club’s First Juvenile Race Most Attractive

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31628, 14 March 1968, Page 4

TROTTING Club’s First Juvenile Race Most Attractive

The Cheviot Trotting Club’s first venture into two-year-old racing at Rangiora Raceway on Saturday looks likely to prove a great success. The I. V. Leonard Memorial Stakes, restricted to fillies, attracted a fine response from owners and trainers and the club had to ballot out three horses to reduce the field to the safety limit of 16.

The successful stables of J. Grant and D. G. Jones will probably produce a firm favourite in Evette. After her splendid fourth under difficulties behind the colts and gelding, Garcon Roux, Ginger Wine, and Friendly Forbes, at the New Brighton meeting last Saturday, only a top filly will beat her.

Evette received a poor run in the middle stages last week and did well to finish only four lengths from the winner. She has drawn quite well at No. 7 at the barrier and should be prominent all the way. She is by Flying Song from Barbette, the dam of an earlier classic winner in Jurist, and smart performers in Halyard and Otikirama Boy.

Come Away is expected to be the hardest for Evette to beat. Come Away, a threequarter sister by Fallacy to Lookaway, has shown to advantage at trials, and at the recent Spotswood equalisator meeting she ran out an easy winner over Evette. That run will assure her of solid support.

Margaret Marie, too, is entitled to respect. At her second race start she tried to lead all the way at Forbury Park on January 27, and it was only in the last few yards that she was mastered by a smart youngster in Radiant Globe.

Margaret Marie went a fair race at Spotswood when she finished fourth in the division won by True Averil. That

run should improve Margaret Marie, which looked to have had a fairly easy time since her placing at Forbury. Sheer Delight will be bracketed with Margaret Marie. She was a fair sixth behind Come Away at Spotswood. She is by Nephew Hal, the sire of Halwes, from Annual Leave, an unraced half-sister to a Dominion Handicap winner in Annual Report. Both Placed Lady Aurora and Lehigh are frontmarkers with placings to their credit Lady Aurora was a shade unlucky when second to Two Degree at Rangiora in December. She has been rather disappointing in two starts since then but has sufficient ability to show to advantage.

Lehigh fell at Auckland on February 10 at her last start. Three starts earlier she was runner-up to General Frost in the New Zealand Futurity Stakes at Rotorua early in January. Local Choice, third in the Rotorua race, is the only horse in Saturday’s field to have been successful. Local Choice won in the Auckland district before joining R. W. Stockdale’s team. She won at Wyndham a fortnight ago, but was disappointing at Addington last week when she tired to seventh after making the pace to the straight. She will need luck to be in the finish of this race.

Several well-bred fillies will make their race debuts on Saturday. They include Balmoral, a sister to last year’s New Zealand Sapling Stakes winner. Royal Walk. Like that youngster, she is trained at Methven by C. V. May. Forecast, a member of S. I. Henderson’s Orari team,

will attract interest. She cost Mr I. McLeod, of Geraldine, 1150 guineas at the national yearling sales 12 months ago, and is by Killarney Hal from Samantha, the dam of Bewitched. Mini Frost, bred by Mr F. S. Parry, of Christchurch, is by Thurber Frost from Officious, the dam of French Pass, Brian’s Way, Officious Piper, Captain Bob, and Highland Host. Fine Dani Social News, trained at Greymouth by J. Steel, is by Newport Chief from the Dillon Hall mare, Weekender, whose first foal was the New Zealand Derby Stakes winner, Doctor Barry. Worthy Guest is by Garrison Hanover from Special Guest, by Light Brigade from Loyal Guest, tracing back to the imported mare Estella Amos, the dam of Indianapolis. The others with race experience have shown little to suggest that they will have made sufficient improvement to be much of a threat. If one of them is to surprise it might be Minipat, a youngster by Local Light from the Morano mare, Monapat. Even so, she will find Evette, Come Away and Margaret Marie hard to head.