Unbeaten Triton looks Winter Cup winner

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 2 (Supplement)

Unbeaten Triton looks Winter Cup winner

By

J.J. Boyle

They gave the handsome chestnut colt above a good start in life when they named him Triton.

In six starts this Fox-ton-owned Woodvilletrained speedster has gobbled up the opposition as if they had been so many minnows. Such a record will assure him of favouritism for the Winter Cup, the second leg of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s T.A.B. concession double at Riccarton tomorrow.

Triton’s breeders, Messrs J. D. and J. Q. Cameron, went to their bookshelves when they came up with the name of Triton. They bred him from Hauani, a mare by Davey Jones (a son of Neptune) from Into Wind by Whistling Wind from Celebration, a sister to Davey Jones and a grand-daughter of Ginna.

Most of the myths about Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, were borrowed from the Greek stories of Poseidon who, according to mythology, sired the merman, Triton.

Triton teems with the blood of the famous Cinna, another source of supply being through Whistling Wind, and the end result is a young horse of exceptional qualities, one that might be lost to New Zealand racing for this season’s spring racing if he extends his winning record tomorrow.

Triton has been winning his races from the front end, but he runs with the relaxed style of the true athlete and his Woodville trainer, S. A. Brown, is confident he will have the qualities for a hard mile on one of New Zealand’s biggest courses tomorrow. Added respect The York Handicap at Ellerslie on June 5 gave Tri-

ton's trainer added respect for his brilliant charge. Brown recalled yesterday that Triton was struggling when he got into a bad patch of ground three furlongs from home in the Auckland Racing Club’s mile, and G. R. Edge on Jan’s Beau, which was alongside, then felt pretty certain there would be no real opposition from that quarter when the chips were down.

“But it was a different story when Bill Skelton found slightly better ground for him on straightening up,” Brown said. “A couple of kicks and my fellow bounded away. You know the rest. He won it easily." Meldie, winner of the Winter Cup two years ago as a four-year-old with 8-1 when the minimum was 41b lower, will carry the equivalent weight of 8-5 tomorrow. The Invercargill trainer, R. Pankhurst, has this powerhouse galloper ready to run the race of his life and now lives in hopes that when E. J. Didham starts him on one of his big runs from the back

there will be no traffic problems and no need for an abnormally wide sweep around the home turn. Easy win Meldie hardly had to draw a deep breath in beating some useful winter milers at Washdyke last Saturday week and that race should have brought a horse which performs well when fresh to the required level of fitness for the most exacting of tests. Trelay might be the spearhead of a strong Otago challenge. He finished at a great rate for his third behind Blank Cheque and Stormy Seas in the Brabazon Handicap last week, and it will be right out of character for him if he does not manage tomorrow’s mile better than last week’s seven furlongs. Trelay is trained at Wingatui by H. A. Anderton, who in the New Zealand Cup last season brought off a spectacular “quinella” in sending out Princess Mellay and Trelay to fill the first two places. The patriarch of a notable Wmgatui racing family, H. A. Anderton is the father of B. J. Anderton, who prepares the Winter Cup topweight, Watallan.

he has had some relief in weight. Ayub Khan has 8-2 and has the same rating as Meldie’s stablemate, Stormy Seas, a close second to Blank Cheque in last week’s Brabazon. Unlike Meldie, Stormy Seas will probably run close to the pace and, with the expected improvement from' his latest race, he should be a doughty contender.