Piko Picked In Derby Today

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32199, 19 January 1970, Page 4

Piko Picked In Derby Today

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON. Piko and Bardall will surprise no-one if they bring off a good double for the Robinson stable, of Matangi, on the second day of the Wellington Racing Club’s cup meeting at Trentham today.

Piko will attempt to complete a grand slam in the three Derbies. The $lO,OOO Wellington Derby is one of the new classic races on the New Zealand calendar and it is fitting that such a race should be run when overseas interest in the New Zealand thoroughbred is at its highest.

Piko will again be opposed today by Far Time, who ran him to half a neck in the Great Northern Derby last month and Campanile, who was second, also half a neck behind the Waikato colt, in the New Zealand Derby.

Campanile has lost form in the meantime. Far Time’s only start since the Great Northern Derby produced a fourth at weight-for-age in the Clifford Plate won by Honour Me. Every thing suggests that : the Wellington Derby will be a two-horse race but that should not be the case in the $6OOO Summer Handicap, the , first leg of the double. Bardall, a top-flight horse 1 at a middle distance, will . show to much greater advantage at 11 furlongs than he did ■ over two miles in the Auck- ' land Cup. He led for a good I way in the Ellerslie two-miler ' but was pegged back to tenth. . Good Win * 1 Two of his best runs this < season were at weight-for-age ’ for a win in the Queen Eliza- ( beth Plate at Paeroa and a third in the Clifford Plate at Ellerslie. He is in the Sum- 1 mer Handicap with 31b less than weight-for-age and looks almost certain to reach one ; of the places. Champion Road, Spring 1 Filou, Backfire, and Steve- i dore, should supply the strength of the opposition for Bardall. , Champion Road, a four-year-old half-brother by Le ; Filou to Cadiz and Boundless, won the Hastings Gold Cup on January 1, beating Backfire by half a length. On that performance he was being hailed as one of the early ; favourites for the Wellington Cup, but his connections passed over the two-miler, probably a commendable course of action with a young horse which should be well served by time. Backfire had well-earned compensation for his second to Champion Road in winning on the second day of the Hawke’s Bay meeting. Anvil, a winner as a hack at this meeting last year, is another newcomer at the meeting but also a last-start winner. He won over Ilf at Invercargill on January 5. Simon De Montfort will also

come in for some attention ir his first appearance at the meeting after a second tc Stevedore over 11 furlongs or the final day of the Auckland Cup meeting. Of those that raced on Saturday, Spring Filou, the Wei lington Cup eighth, might find some improvement He pulled harder than anything else in the cup and became unsettled when Highland Rebel dueked off the fence and bumped him towards the middle of the track. In his final Wellington Cup trial. Spring Filou had it heavilj on Highland Rebel, which on Saturday beat all but D Tempo. On their best form at middle distances Donald Mac and Shipmaster would both command respect. A two-mile race at Trentham is obviously too far for Donald Mac—at least one run in record time is. Shipmaster ran against the milers on Saturday without distinguishing himself but it is possible he will find improvement with the race.

The Mayo Gold-R. J. Skelton combination is to be renewed after a break in the

Metropolitan Handicap, the second leg of the T.A.B. double today. Skelton won this race on Mayo Gold a year ago but B. F. Andrews has been the mare’s regular rider this summer and won the Railway Handicap on her at the Auckland Cup meeting. Poor Run Mayo Gold did not get the best of it in the running on the inside in the Telegraph Handicap on Saturday and her performance to finish eighth was not at all bad. Her most formidable rival today may be Britannicus which was placed behind her in this race a year ago and appeared

to be unlucky in one of his starts at the Manawatu meeting last month. Yipp is another obvious prospect after his big run from the back for fourth in the Telegraph Handicap on Saturday but others with appealing backgrounds are Gay Doctor and Honey Belle, minor place-getters in the Anniversay Handicap on Saturday, and the very useful three-year-old filly, Astrella. There will be an on-course concession double on the Mangaroa High-weight and the Nursery Handicap. The jackpot will be on races three, five, six, seven and eight