Ben Lomond Fails In Soft Ground

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31655, 16 April 1968, Page 5

Ben Lomond Fails In Soft Ground

Betters at Ellerslie and through the T.A.B. lost $17,058 on Ben Lomond, which they backed down to long odds on in the Great Northern St Leger at Ellerslie yesterday.

With Ben Lomond next to useless in the holding ground the way was left clear for Proud Chief, an accomplished mudlark, to run away for a six-length win. Ben Lomond, after struggling into second on the inside as they made the home turn, could do no better and he took his second placing a bit less than a length ahead of Our Sabaean. Proud Chief is the colt which made Ben Lomond work so hard to win the Wai kato Guineas over a mile and a quarter in heavy ground at Te Rapa late last spring. His form meantime had been fair, but it improved when he was a close third in a middledistance handicap at Whangarei recently. A brown, by Proud Look from Victoress, Proud Chief is owned by Mr H. Q. Gregory, who bought him as a two-year

old for $250. In his first race he could not find the pace to win at the annual Waiuku picnic race meeting. While per haps not yet with a claim as the top staying member of his age group, he is undoubtedly good, especially in soft or heavy ground. Proud Chief was the best backed after Ben Lomond, but there was such heavy betting on the favourite that his win dividend was $6.60. Impetus, the third favourite each way. found the going beyond him and weakened to fourth, half a length behind Our Sabaean but well clear of City Court. Whiti Te Ra, a Hawera visitor which has the New Zealand St Leger, at Trentham, to his credit, ran well below that form and kept up for only 10 furlongs. In the finish he was sixth out of the eight runners. Both Proud Chief and Our Sabaean are trained by T. J McKee at Takanini. Proud Chief was ridden by R. W. Taylor, who returned from Sydney at the week-end after being on Pell Mell in the Doncaster Handicap An irony of the big race was that Taylor was Ben Lomond’s regular rider until replaced by G. F. Hughes after the King’s Plate during the Auckland summer meeting.