RACING Auckland Cup next mission for N.Z. Cup place-getter

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 9

RACING Auckland Cup next mission for N.Z. Cup place-getter

Only Golden Sam’s run for second in the New Zealand Cup saved the South Island s best from a complete rout in major races on a grey, cold (jay at Riccarton on Saturday.

Plans to freshen Golden Sam and then prepare him for the $45,000 Auckland Cup on January 1 were announced after the five-year-old ran Kartika to half a length in the cup.

Another Kartika . Golden sam clash does not seem likely in the Auckland Cup. Kartika’s Hawera trainer, B. F. Deacon, does not believe Ellerslie will suit his mare, and if the attractive six-year-old races again at two miles it will be at Trentham in January.

Deacon selected Kartika as; a yearling for Mr and Mrs C. G. Taylor, of New Plymouth, and the youngster! changed hands for £6OO. Mr Taylor had an eye to the filly’s paddock value when he bought the youngster and Kartika’s worth now as a stud proposition is immeasurable. She is by Fair’s Fair—the sire of Even Stevens, that other splendid staying mare. Fairfleet, and dozens of other good ones—from the imported Queen Hestia, a daughter of the Ascot Gold Cup winner. Precipitation, the next dam by the Derby winner, Felstead, which was inbred to the great New Zea-land-bred Carbine at the third and fourth remove. Cool confidence To make the cup a complete triumph for Taranaki, Kartika was ridden with cool confidence by the 19-year-old stable apprentice, J. Walker, who was on his first visit to Riccarton. Walker rode Kartika from the back, and the marked quickening in pace in the second half mile—this hurried by in 47 4-5, thanks to Walk Along—eased the task of the stout stayers. The third half mile was run in 49, the final half a shade slower. Like Kartika, Golden Sam mounted his run from the tail end, and while it was clear just inside the furlong that Kartika was at the height of a run that would meet the demands of the occasion J. R. Dowling, the rider of the Otago stayer, had a lastsecond surge of hope when the Taranaki mare lost some of her momentum.

"I thought Kartika came to the end of her run and felt we would have caught her in a few more strides,” Dowling said later.

Dowling was quick to add, however, that he could find no excuses, and that Kartika, which has a tendency to loaf when in the clear, had been too good for the Otago stayer on the day. Classico, from Te Rapa, one of the less popular fancies, outstayed Mediate by a neck for third. Trelay in trouble Luck went all against Trelay in a scrimmage near the three furlongs. After an incident in which he was checked! and lost vital ground and; energy. E. R. Harrison, the! rider of Aito, was suspended until 5 p m. on Wednesday. Kartika, Golden Sam, Mediate, and Trelay dominated betting on the cup carrying $266,010.50 of the total of $459,093.50 bet on the race.

Trelay carried $71,040.50, Golden Sam $70,704, Mediate $66,275, and Kartika $57,991. Kartika was favourite with off-course place betters but fifth fancy for a place on the course.

North Island-trained horses started their triumphal progress through the main races when Trumpet Call, from Matangi, eclipsed the other two-year-olds in the Welcome Stakes. Sales bargain Then Classic Wave became one of the bargains of the 1971 national vearling sales —she cost $l4O0 —by winning the $13,000 New Zealand Derby by two lengths from another filly, Rose Mellay.

Classic Wave’s win was a memorable start to a first holiday in the South Island for an Aucklander, Mr C. W. Simpson, a relation of the filly's Takanini trainer, I. J. Tucker. Classic Wave was the first of the strong band of northern horses to arrive at Riccarton, and has been in the care of the trainer’s wife. Mrs Tucker has now been the devoted attendant of three New Zealand Derby winners for the Takanini stable —the

others were Algaion and Fair Account—and of Star Belle, which carried off the New Zealand Oaks. Classic Wave is by Crest of the Wave, a winner in the colours of the Queen, from Tolunda, by Talismano from Gamine, a sister of the great

galloper. El Khobar, and a grand-daughter of Silver Beam, whose brother Argentic, took high ranking as a handicap performer and twice won the C.J.C. Metropolitan Handicap. Black Rod was the great disappointment of the New

I Zealand Derby runners. He was the each-way favourite land finished seventh of nine. But luck changed for the Otaki Bowry stable when Sharda carried top weight of 8.11 to a game win over Pinotage in the Stewards’ Handicap. Sharda also made his presence felt at the start, but in a less pleasurable way. He lashed out at the start, and one of the starter’s assistants had to be treated later for a fractured finger. Others right out of luck were the connections of the young Otago sprinter, Jayson.

The Taranaki apprentice, J. Walker, who had won the cup on Kartika, had visions of a second notable triumph for the day until Jayson faltered outside the furlong and stumbled to a halt with a fractured fetlock joint. He was put down.