N.Z. hopes high for Cup victory

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 10

N.Z. hopes high for Cup victory

(From the Australian racing correspondent of "The Press") MELBOURNE. Magnifique should be ready to run the race of her life in the Melbourne Cup tomorrow.

In every respect her third in the weight-for-age Mackinnon Stakes on Saturday measured up favourably- to the placed run of Silver Knight in that race before his Melbourne Cup victory a year ago.

She was affected to some extent by seasonal trouble on Saturday, and her trainer, E. Temperton, feels that even under that handicap she has still managed to please him more in her lead-up to the cup than Silver Knight did. The Melbourne jockey, H. White, also said at the weekend that as far as he could judge from riding Silver Knight and Magnifique in training at identical stages of their Cup preparations Magnifique was the more impressive. At the week-end some bookmakers had Magnifique and Gunsynd as equal favourites at 4/1, and Sobar had drifted out to 12/1 after his failure to win the V.R.C. Derby. Baghdad Note and Stormy Seas will bring lively South Island interest to bear on this year’s Cup. Baghdad Note did not strike a real blow at Stormy Seas in the Mackinnon

Stakes, but his run in that race matched the one he came up with in the Mackinnon Stakes before he won the 1970 Melbourne Cup. After Saturday's race E. J. Didham said he felt reasonably hopeful of a second Cup win on Baghdad Note. “He’s been coming up well with each race and today he felt very like his old self,” Didham said after Saturday’s race.

While holding Gunsynd in the highest regard, prospects of an all-New Zealand finish have seldom been brighter. Cup picks:— Magnifique 1 Baghdad Note 2

Stormy Seas 3 The field for the Cup, which is also the second leg of the special T.A.B. exchange double on the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, is:

3.40 p.m. (N.Z. time)— MELBOURNE CUP $100,000; 3200 m. st lb 1 131 Gunsynd (11) 9 7 • R. Higgins 2 906 Baghdad Note (N.Z.) 9 2 (15) E. Didham 3 221 Stormy Seas (N.Z.) 8 6 (21) P. Cook 4 101 Scotch and Dry (14) 8 5 T. Finger 5 028 Battleground (6) 8 4 B. Gilders 6 133 Magnifique (N.Z.) 8 4 (17) R. Marsh 7 513 Double Irish (19) 8 3 P. Jarman 8 154 Altai Khan (4) 8 2 R. Maliy on \

9 760 Ansin (N.Z.) (20) G. Edge 8 2 10 062 Dark Suit (5) 8 2 11 050 Pole Star (N.Z.) (8) R. Skelton 8 0 12 450 Stop the Show (2) J. Stocker 8 0 13 007 Tea Break (16) R. Setches 7 10 14 360 Haarle (18) J. Duggan 7 9 15 117 Hay Burner (N.Z.) (13) 7 9 16 433 Piping Lane (12) J. Letts 7 8 17 112 Sobar (24) H. White 7 8 18 926 Glen Lang (231 7 7 19 707 Fair Share (N.Z.) (9) 7 6 20 749 Grand Scale (N.Z.) (3) R. Durey 7 5 21 613 Tipping Time (7) 7 3 22 508 Duglig (22) B. Wood 7 2 23 346 Saboll (10) 7 2 24 940 Gala Red (1) W. Winks 7 10