RACING Koral Is Untroubled To Win Fifth Homeby

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32359, 27 July 1970, Page 4

RACING Koral Is Untroubled To Win Fifth Homeby

Koral gave his Riverton trainer-jockey, W. J. Hillis, a spill the first time he appeared as a hurdler at Riccarton in the autumn of 1965. But he has made handsome compensation in the meantime by winning nine of his 16 starts over fences on the course.

Mr W. E. Hazlett’s grey won his fifth Homeby Steeplechase at the Christchurch Hunt meeting on Saturday, and if brilliance of jumping has the biggest bearing on matters he will win his second Grand National this week.

Koral’s nine firsts, five seconds, and one third over country at Riccarton have brought in $21,510 of his total earnings of $37,210, all but $2BO of which have been amassed through his deeds as a juniper. Koral beat his younger stablemate, Mosque, by three lengths and a half in the Christchurch Hunt’s feature 2Jm race on Saturday. Hillis, Koral’s partner in all those Riccarton triumphs, was as guarded as ever in post-race comments, but his observation that it had been a good National trial carried just as much conviction as a 20-minute speech. On Saturday there seemed only one danger to Koral—that he might beat himself. With the race half-way over Koral looked as if he was tugging like the Limited. Hillis allowed him a bit more rein going to the Kennels double, and two superb leaps carried the topweight to second behind Mosque. i Inside Run Koral took a shorter course 1 than Mosque on the approach ' to the last fence, went ahead I before he was gathered for ’ his leap, then stormed ahead 1 for victory. i Mosgue beat Game Call almost as easily for second i with a run that left his rider, 1 B. P. Kennedy, more than I satisfied. “1 wouldn’t swap Mosque as a National fide for j any other horse in the race,” i Kennedy said. Mosque had been respon- ' sible for all the pace, with Game Call tracking him until Koral’s two great leaps at the ■ Kennels Double. Game Call could not quicken to engage the Hazlett pair towards the end, but kept up a purposeful rufi to the end of a fast-run tace, a performance that carried high promise for another great run next Saturday by the 1966 Grand National winner. Drum Call was led back > very lame after struggling ; into fourth place and will be out of the Grand National. He had jumped Cutts’s badly, and even before then I the Bellborough gelding’s 1 trainer-joekey, R. O. Cairns, < felt that all was not well with the southerner. i < Well Beaten “He’ll improve with the 1 race, but, of course, ne will have to improve a lot,” com- 1 mented G. Walters after 1 riding Robert Earl into fifth < position in the field of six t Walters said the 1969 < Grand National winner was < beaten half a mile out. He 1 had tried to take the Waikato jumper forward behind Koral : going to the second last i fence, but there was nothing i there. I Any hopes Walters had : earlier for a Robert Earl vic- ■ tory faded when, going to Cutts’s he saw how keenly Koral was going. “The grey had his mouth open, pulling double,” he said. Koral was the second winner in the Hazlett colours on Saturday. The other one was Free Frenchman, which ended his four-year-old racing ny beating his bracketed mate, Dui- i dul, handily, and the rest ' easily in the Westenra Cup. '

ning ride in the Hazlett colours; his earlier victories were on White Wine. South Strong Silver Savant made it a clean sweep for Riverton stables in the cross-country races on Saturday by winning the Lawford Steeplechase narrowly from Gillie. Silver Savant, which is prepared at Riverton by his owners, Messrs C. J. and T.

W. Glynn, made every yard of the running, battled off a challenge from Ettrick early in the run home and lasted for a half-neck victory from Gillie, which had. been trailing him by 12 lengths at the mile.

Ettrick ran with his usual keenness on ground to his liking, but mixed his jumping and was in trouble at the third to last fence. The win favourite, Casca,

was badly checked by the fallen Persian Crusade at Cutts’s, then came down at the second-last when on a collision course with his stablemate, Berwen. The stablemates were remounted, Berwen to finish fourth, and Casca fifth. Naratam lost his rider at the end of a round when he got into cramped quarters after Silver Savant had changed his line.

Free Frenchman was in trouble with his jumping half-way through the race but was cleverly nursed by the Waikato amateur, Mr B. Tims, to get the last run at Duldul, and won going away by three parts of a length. It was Tims’s fourth win-