RACING Baghdad Note In Form For Second Trentham Win

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32035, 9 July 1969, Page 4

RACING Baghdad Note In Form For Second Trentham Win

The combined efforts of Kumai, Meldie, and Baghdad Note should give the South Island prospects of some measure of success on the second day of the Wellington winter meeting at Trentham today.

Baghdad Note was the lone winner for the South Island last Saturday. He was also the easiest winner of all in flat races on the programme. The Petone Hack Handicap run over the same distance today offers a bright chance of another victory for the Wingatui four-year-old.

Kumai went out of the Wellington Steeplechase too far from home to allow any impressions to be formed as to how he would have fared. But in running the rest of the course riderless he did some valuable and undemanding conditioning work for today’s Matai Steeplechase.

Two years ago such a race with 10-2 would have been easy for him. Today should show whether age has made its inevitable demands on the vitality of a horse that has become a great favourite with the Trentham crowds. Meldie is one of the only two three-year-olds in the field for the Parliamentary Handicap, the first leg of today’s TA.B. double.

Above Average He has been a cut above the average run of South Island graduates from hacks this year, and made an immediate impression at Trentham in May when he beat Proud Chief, Escameno and others over the Parliamentary distance of 11 furlongs.

In the meantime he has raced once for a brilliant sprint victory at Ashburton. Proud Chief, Cambridge Fair and Monastic are other last-start winners in the Parliamentary Handicap field, and they will command the utmost respect. Proud Chief showed his mastery of a Trentham winter track in winning the

Winter Oats Handicap a year ago. Cambridge Fair's three winter campaigns there have produced four wins up to a mile. Successful Pair Monastic will be ridden by R. J. Skelton, and this was a successful combination at

Wanganui last week. Others with a race that looks wide open are Escameno, Far Quest, Nipawin, Mike Hayes and the Southlander, Chango. The most likely improver in the field is this season’s Wellington Derby winner, Lord Chavel, which looked at least one race short when he

paraded for the Whyte Handicap on Saturday. Second Leg The Members' Handicap will be the second leg of the T.A.B. double. Sunwarm and Hindi should be two of the stronger prospects if they have held their form. Jackpot enthusiasts face a formidable first test as they will start with the Lambton Trial Plate, which has a capacity field. The other jackpot races are the Matai Steeples, the Parliamentary Handicap, the Seatoun Hack and the Members’ Handicap.