RACING N.I. jockeys for top C.J.C. form runners
His Bestone, the decisive winner of the Amberley Cup on Saturday, will be ridden by the successful Matamata jockey, G. L. Willetts, in the Canterbury Jockey Club’s May Handicap at Riccarton on Wednesday.
But the change of I 1 rider is no reflection on ■ the Riccarton horseman, j R. J. McCann, who rode i Mr A. G. Bailey’s three- '1 year-old so ably to his J first open-class victory • on Saturday. i< “No-one could have ridden t the colt better than Ron Me-!, Cann did today, and 1 regret ( he cannot have the mount!; again on Wednesday, but we had arranged earlier for Gary Willetts to have the ride in t Wednesday’s race," Mr Bai-jj ley said after Saturday’s J race. ( His Bestone has been re-; handicapped 41b to 8.4 for t
[Wednesday’s race but a stiffer handicap might be one of the wide barrier positions from the mile and a quarter. iWilletts might need all the luck going to find the same run for His Bestone as was (enjoyed by McCann on the Monitor colt in the Amberley ■Cup. Magic Touch and Quetta, 'the next best to His Bestone I in the Amberley Cup, will oppose the three-year-old ■again. UNLUCKY? Only half a head separated them ' in second and third places on Saturday, and their riders both felt that luck had not dealt with them kindly. Magic Touch ...was last when the field of 11 settled
and had to make a big run to reach a contending position.
She saved second by half a head from Quetta, whose performance was more in character with his best form. His rider, M. Thornley, said he had been held up for a run on the inside of Offensive when anxious to make ground, and he felt that that had a bearing on the result of the race.
Like His Bestone, Quetta
will have a North Island rider in the Canterbury Jockey Club’s May Handicap. L. J. Carston will come south to renew a combination that prospered earlier in the Afghanistan gelding’s career. SECOND LEG A year ago, when the Amberley Cup was run on the club’s home course over a distance of seven furlongs, the rugged Southland gelding Warlight won at doublefigure odds in the hands of the Riccarton jockey. M. J. Skelton.
On Saturday this combination triumphed again over 7f in the G. B. Starky Memorial Handicap, the second leg of the double.
For his win, a romping affair by four lengths, Warlight has been rehandicapped 41b to 8.10 in the Westport Handicap, second leg of the C.J.C. T.A.B. double on Wednesday, but in his present form the Freelight gelding should be equal to the demands of. the occasion.
Zarnia was almost cut out of second by the fast-finish-ing Red Carpet, and his rider, D. Reed, was advised by stewards to show more vigour when riding in a finish. It was considered Reed had been fortunate not to be facing a more serious charge as his mount had beaten Red Carpet by only a nose in a struggle for a position involving the concession double and a quinella. Show Gate gamely tried for an all-the-way win under top weight of 8.11 on a soft track, but gameness alone was not enough to give her her fourth successive win in Canterbury. She was caught [Outside the furlong and was ■pegged back to fourth.
RACING N.I. jockeys for top C.J.C. form runners
Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33230, 21 May 1973, Page 8
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in