RACING Bompa Leads All The Way In Gold Cup

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31836, 14 November 1968, Page 4

RACING Bompa Leads All The Way In Gold Cup

Cleverly ridden in front by W. D. Skelton, Bompa brilliantly won the Canterbury Gold Cup in fast time at Riccarton yesterday.

Bompa sped over the mile and a quarter in 2min 2sec to win by a length and a half from the New Zealand Derby winner. Pep. which just beat Summer Magic and Eradeinee.

“He gave me no worries until the last half furlong when he started to lug out, ’ W. D. Skelton said after the race.

The Levin jockey has been under something of a handicap with a badly damaged thumb in the last week or so. but it has not been obvious in his riding at the meeting Last Saturday he won the New Zealand Cup on Noir Filou. and Bompa’s victory yesterday improved the great record of last season’s leading jockey in major New Zealand races. Bompa, another of the brilliant tribe of Pakistan 11, is owned by Mr B. V. Bodie, of Masterton, and is trained at Tauherenikau by W. G. Ivil. Bompa won the Selwyn Handicap at Riccarton in j August and he has been only once worse than fourth in the meantime, that being when he finished fifth after

getting a bump in the Stewards’ Handicap on Saturday. Pep, which was eligible for hack races until his classic victory last Saturday, was one of the outsiders of the Canterbury Gold Cup field. He was ridden fairly close to the pace on the inside, and showed pluck in a battling finish for the minor places to last for second. Summer Magic’s third was

creditable. He was slow away and had only two behind him at the five furlongs. Eradeinee. the Derby run-ner-up. lost third place to Summer Magic in the last few strides, and Royal Tudor was only a neck back fifth. Eradeineee was leading the chase after Bompa alongside Mammoth all the way to the straight. Mammoth felt the I strain outside the furlong and ■ ! finished sixth. Every Post and' I Proud Chief were the best of! j the others. Brilliant Finish Ima Martian came from the tail of the field for a brilliant win in the Jockey Club Handicap, the second leg of the T.A.B. concession double. The Auckland jockey. R. J. Skelton, rode Ima Martian I just as confidently from the back as his brother had ridden Bompa from the front to win the first leg of the double. Supporters of this combination received $34.35 on the double, and Red Chips completed a concession double worth $32.95. Ima Martian was having his first start at the New Zealand Cup meeting for his Hastings owners, Mr and Mrs H. A. Sherborne.

Two starts earlier he was first home in the Wellington Racing Club’s Wainui Handicap but was relegated at an inquiry. Shipmaster was the slowest away but he ran up to the middle on the inside before they went far. The long-striding Ima Martian was given plenty of time to get balanced and he appeared to have a mighty task ahead when five furlongs out

he was tailing the 13-horse field. R. J. Skelton started the big chestnut on his run after the leading bunch after passing the half mile and a furlong out his long strides had carried him into a contending position on the outside of Red Chips and Shipmaster. It was all over a few seconds later and at the end the topweight was nicely clear by a length and a half. The consistent Red Chips beat Shipmaster by two

lengths for second. There was little between them from the home turn, where they were tracking the tiring leader, Sailor’s Flight. Aeolian, which was last at the three furlongs, finished brilliantly for fourth close behind Shipmaster. Colorado Boy improved several places for fifth, but without ever heartening his backers. The same could be said for Sandy, which was sixth. Yipp, seventh to finish, came back with a gash on his off foreleg.