LORD AURORA JUMPS WELL

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32049, 25 July 1969, Page 4

LORD AURORA JUMPS WELL

The Auckland-owned Woodville - trained Mo-I-Rana did a shakv round of the Riccarton steeplechase course yesterday and interrupted a sound display by his stablemate, Lord Aurora, when he bumped B. Waerea to the ground at the second of the kennels double.

Lord Aurora, ridden by his trainer, E. Ropiha, has not raced for two years but he came into reckoning for the Lawford Steeplechase with his good round yesterday. They were taken on to the trial steeplechase course to jump the double, and Lord Aurora went'clear with two swift, confident leaps. Then they were taken on to the steeplechase course, starting at Cutts’s, and going to the kennels double on

terms, where Mo-I-Rana put in a bad one and shot Waerea out of the saddle. They were then brought back to jump the double individually, before joining again.

Lord Aurora jumped clear again at the five furlongs, and held a slight lead over : “Jumbo,” the 4ft Win brush near the half-mile, and the : carriage paddock brush. At Cutts’s the second time Lord

Aurora landed better than Mo-I-Rana, but the latter was more sure of himself at the fence near the nine furlongs, where they finished. The only other jumper tried on the steeplechase course was Phenomenal, Cutts’s was the only fence he jumped. He was quite safe in the hands of the amateur rider, D. Thomson, who will ride him in the Westenra Cup. Bill Bailey, a winner for the Ropiha stable at Trentham, jumped four hurdles safely before B. Waerea took him on a working gallop on the outside of the course proper. He sprinted his last three furlongs in 42 4-ssec. Pasa Doble, the stable runner in the Brabazon Handicap also jumped four hurdles neatly.