GOLDEN SAM CUP PICK

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33128, 19 January 1973, Page 1 (Supplement)

GOLDEN SAM CUP PICK

By

J. J. Boyle

S.I. hopes high for Trentham victory

A nightmare of a rails run almost certainly cost Golden Sam victory in the Auckland Cup on January 1.

The talented Wingatui stayer is unlikely to encounter a similar hazard in the Wellington Cup tomorrow, and is selected to win. Golden Sam has that touch of brilliance that has carried him to sprint victories and a distance record that absolutely compels attention and admiration. Like Trelay, he has yet to win at two miles, but he has had some gallant — and at least twice unlucky — nearmisses. And if he is in the form he produced to come from near last for fifth in the: Auckland Cup he should put the South Island back into; the records of a great race Golden Sam’s jockey, J Dowling, faces the prospect

of being trapped wide if they settle for a slack early pace in the Wellington Cup, but if the race settles into its usual pattern, he should have more room to manoeuvre than he did from about five furlongs out at Ellerslie. The talents,of Trelay, Ribaldo, and Tourie. when added to those of Golden

Sam, make for the heady prospect of more than one South Islander being concerned in the finish. Trelay is having his sixth try to win a two-miler, and he will never have a better

chance to make it than tomorrow. His weight of 8.9 is only one pound more than he carried into second a neck behind Princess Mellay in the 1971 New Zealand Cup. When he filled the same

puauiuii again uviuiivi Princess Mellay — in the 1970 New Zealand Cup, he was conceding his brilliant stablemate 2 lb. Well supported Trelay, in combination with the cups specialist, R. J. Skelton, will come in for heavy support tomorrow, and it will be one of the surprises of the day if the powerful entire fails to go very well. Ribaldo’s failure on a small track at Marton last Saturdav might best be disregarded. [This tough Riccarton stayer ! is a horse of robust appetite, iand had the chance to take ■on some “lumber” when allowed to freshen in the Cambridge district after his close second in the Auckland Cup. Tourie has had no handi-

capper’s invitation for his first two-miler. Mr W. E. Hazlett’s four-year-old will carry half a ; stone more than his most highly-rated contemporaries. , Oncide and Ben Adhem. and it was one of the biggest surprises of the handicap to find him only 31b below the six-vear-old Trelay. Formidable That Tourie was rated so highly appears to reflect, more than anything else, an awareness of the formidable record of four-year-olds in the race. But none of the seven successful four-year-olds in the!

race back to Spare Part's! vear. 1948. had to carrv] Tourie’s weight, although] Loofah was close to it with; 8- Golden Souvenir won as' a four-year-old in I94fi with 9- But he was something special And his stablemate Bruce, which triumphed at the age of four a year later With 8 13, was also a lot better than run-of-the-mill Although the Auckland Cup winner Apollo Eleven will tilt at Wellington Cup honours, it seems pretty certain that Golden Sam and Rihaldo will place greater value on Ellerslie form at Trent terslie two-miler in the style

find so much finishing speed with 8-10 or 91b more in a stronger field on a more testing track this time. Ben Adhem is the problem horse of the field. He has looked a cut above the average at times at middle distances, yet was clearly beaten by the distance of the Auckland Cup — a strange quality to be missing in the make-up of a brother to the stout stayer Artifice. It might be early days yet to dismiss one as young as Ben Adhem out of hand. He should get the run of the race close to the inside, and this time might run it out with the best of them with his 7-12.