Red Chips Sprint Pick

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32127, 24 October 1969, Page 4

Red Chips Sprint Pick

Red Chips might give Riccarton stables their second major success of the meeting—Shipmaster won the Wainui Handicap for this centre last Saturday—in the Awatea Handicap, second leg of the main double, at Trentham tomorrow.

Red Chips will be trying to keep a winning record intact under top-weight of 8-11 in this, his second start for the season. Last Tuesday week he won with 9-2 over the same distance on his home course at the Westport meeting. Closest to Red Chips in the weights is Super Count, the beaten favourite in last Saturday’s Wainui Handicap. Covering a lot of extra ground to reach a challenging position did not help this Mata-mata-trained sprinter to improve on seconds at

Ellerslie and Te Rapa at his two previous starts—in the mile on the first day. Tara’s Pride, at 10, Is obviously not a spent force yet There was much merit in his fast-finishing second in the open sprint at Stratford last Tuesday. The six furlongs of the Shorts Handicap on the first day was far too short for Testify but he was making ground in seventh place at the finish and could be more at ease over this distance.

Dewi Sant, Jean Armour and Thundercloud all have winning form close up on their records but in weaker company. Cantostan, after useful platings at Otaki and Masterton, wilted badly in the run home in last Saturday’s sprint but the same could not be said for Archimedes, which battled on gamely for fourth after being in touch with the pace all the way in the Wainui Handicap. Although six furlongs

seems to be Fashion Plate’s best distance she is bound to come in for solid backing after minor platings in three of her four starts this season —the most recent being a second and a third among the open sprinters at Ellerslie the week before last.

Lord Mac; a middledistance winner in intermediate class at Ellerslie last time out, might find it difficult to make a successful switch back to sprinting. Still, he is a versatile type whose record this season includes platings from six furlongs to a mile. Miss Harleigh comes into the same category. At her only start this season—an open sprint at Hastings last month—she finished third. She also ended her three-year-old racing with a similar plating over a middle distance at Riccarton in April. Red Carpet, in spite of his weak showing in the Wainui Handicap, and the consistent Shariff, might be the best of the others.