Red Chips overcame difficulties

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32525, 8 February 1971, Page 8

Red Chips overcame difficulties

In racing, as in other matters, there is a danger of getting too close to your subject, especially when the subject is Red Chips, winner of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Midsummer Handicap at Riccarton on Saturday.

On and about the tracks Hast week Messrs C. McDonald’s and .1. A. Randle’s chestnut was acting as if every step was being made under protest, although the, trouble usually disappeared as he warmed to his work. Some form of back trouble that has been bothering him for some time had worsened and appeared likely to cost him a chance of improving his doughty record on his home course.

But with the assistance of a steady warm-up before Saturday’s race he had the courage and the class to; come out on top for the; twenty-second win of his I career. “I never allowed him an; idle moment when we got' round to the barrier, and you: would have thought it was. the Stewards Handicap the, way he went when the starter, sent us away,” commented! his rider, N. Cowles, later. I Cowles, also Red Chips’s' successful partner in the |

Riccarton Handicap last November and in the Timaru ’ Cup in December, found the ' ideal spot in the running for the seven-year-old, just behind Silvef Fountain, which was leading the chase after the pacemaking Bellaware. Red Chips battled past the southerners, Snow Boy and Bellaware inside the last furlong and lasted it out for a half-length victory over ; Euripydies, which finished . with his usual doggedness. Red Chips won with Bst 81b i J on Saturday and will carry 7st 111 b on a 71b lower scale f : in the Benson and Hedges ; Handicap on ! i I Wednesday. Euripydies will meet Red! , Chips on the same terms in j ] the $6250 sponsored race on|i I Wednesday. u

Bellaware, fourth on Saturday with Bst 101 b, drops to 7st 121 b on Wednesday, but the step up to a mile and a half will be a daunting task for her if she runs with the same keenness early. Silver Fountain was inches behind Bellaware in fifth position on Saturday. This was a performance that fell short of her fourth over 11 furlongs at Trentham at her previous start but not one to 1 rule out her chances with 7st 61b, or 11 lb less, on Wed-i nesday. ' Gay Gabador’s failure to do better than sixth prompted questioning of his I rider, E. J. Didham. ! The Wingatui stayer improved quickly on straightenling up and ranged up on the i outside of the leading runners

but came to the end of his run at the furlong, failing to respond when tried with the whip. A film of the race confirmed the official observation that Didham had ridden Gay Gabador out reasonably and that he was given every opportunity. Somelight, Didham’s mount in the inter-island race, was ridden in the middle of the field in the Midsummer Handicap and made no headiway from the home turn, ifinishing eighth. i He has been a success in the south as a front runner and at Riccarton in November his scorching gallop in the lead in the Metropolitan Handicap, in which he finished fourth, was responsible for a track record for a mile and a half.