GUINEAS WINNER LIKELY STAYER

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32707, 9 September 1971, Page 8

GUINEAS WINNER LIKELY STAYER

(From the Australian racing correspondent of “The Press")

SYDNEY. ( Winning form is the best form, and excuses for beaten horses sometimes give the wrong picture in assessing prospects. 1 But Saturday’s Canterbury Guineas, the first of the semi classics and the first test of Derby prospects, puts the turf man in a predicament. ; On face value,, the winner, Egyptian, did everything that a Derby colt should do at this stage of his preparation for the mile and a half race to be run at Randwick on October 2. He was good enough to take position early, obey the wishes of his rider, D. Lake, when some move or another was expedient, and then, when the pressure came, strong enough to make a run that brought him success and stamped him a likely stay* ing three-year-old. But the horse he beat, Latin Knight, although more than two lengths away showed just as much staying promise. It is difficult to estimate the extra ground Latin Knight covered compared with the passage secured for Egyptian, but It certainly was equal to, and, no doubt, exceeded, the distance by which he was beaten. It all happened in the first furlong of the race during the progress of vyhich Lake took Egyptian along easily towards the rails after R. Selkrig had sprinted a little in endeavouring to get Latin Knight over. Everything went well for Lake, thanks to his riding skills, but Selkrig found himself in one of those situations where anything he tried to do to gain an inside passage was thwarted by circum--1 stances There was nothing for it but to proceed on the outside of three horses, trusting to the stamina of his mount to make up ground in the straight. ’ No one should have been disappointed by Latin Knight’s finfinishing effort. It was begun ■ much sooner than it would have ! been in normal circumstances.l and it was sustained right to: the post in a hopeless challenge i to Egyptian. The stamina of the two is be-, yond doubt up to a mile and a I quarter—l4o yards more than! Saturday’s distance. What is to; happen over one mile and a half; is a matter for conjecture. Each has the pedigree to back up his obvious ability. Egyptian, a gelding, is by a> new sire, Convamore (imp) a stayer and a fast running one, and his dam is a close relation to Pride of Egypt, a front-run-ning Victoria Derby winner. Latin Knight is by Latin Lover (imp) from Indian Song and both sides of bis pedigree support his claim to being a true stayer. The two did not push other Derby aspirants in the race completely off stage, •

Converall, another by Convamore, has just won his maiden race and on Saturday showed vast improvement by his finishing run. Task seemed to have been beaten on his merits, and the doubt is whether longer distances are going to help him. The filly, Winking, could be scarcely judged on her run for she seemed ill at ease on the turns, and, in any case, was hemmed in far too long to give her a good chance of winning. Baguette’s return to form at Canterbury on Saturday where he won the Canterbury Stakes was very welcome. But at the same time the defeat of Ricochet, which missed a place altogether does not mean the eclipse of this good sprinter from the important races of the spring. . , The way the race was run made Ricochet’s task of matching the likely run in the straight by Baguette extremely difficult. To begin with he was slow to get going, being a clear last within a stride or two.

No one expected him to be pacing it with the leaders, but his position when Baguette began his sprint in the straight scarcely could have made his backers happy.

Diamond Wedding and Lowland Luck had most to do with the pacemaking early with Welsh Prince handy

On the turn Welsh Prince had the best prospects for a while, but Baguette soon settled that issue with his challenge. The interest then was the showing Ricochet would make in the last furlong. It was a disappointing effort by all standards, but perhaps, tactics may have developed differently had Ricochet not made such a bad start.