Rose Mellay has easy Auckland Cup win

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33422, 2 January 1974, Page 9

Rose Mellay has easy Auckland Cup win

(From Our Own Reporter)

AUCKLAND.

“She’s the bridesmaid no longer,” said Rose Mellay’s jubilant trainer, E. B. Skelton, as he waited for the South Island-bred four-year-old to return to scale after a brilliant win in the $75,000 Centennial Auckland Cup at Ellerslie yesterday.

Rose Mellay, whose record has been studded with placed performances, some of them unlucky runs in major handicaps and classics, wasted no time in establishing her supremacy in the richest race in New Zealand. Rose Mellay, the only representative of the Wingatuibased stallion, Mellay, in the race, won running away by five lengths from Battle Heights, which beat another long shot Valiant Warrior by a length and a half. Mellay is still one of the comparatively young sires, but he has quickly reached champion status as a sire of stayers, and his latest star has matured and improved to a level where she must be ranked favourably alongside his other famous daughters, Princess Mellay and Swell Time.

Rose Mellay is owned by Mrs B. Madsen, wife of a former Danish soldier who came to settle in New Zealand 17 years ago. EXCITED OWNER A highly excited Mrs Madsen was about to rush forward to kiss R. J. Skelton as he was dismounting. “Don’t do that lady,” said a reporter standing close by. “It might cost you over $45,000.” Another excited onlooker was Mr Madsen’s mother

who flew from Denmark to see the race, arriving on New Year’s Eve. Mr Madsen soon broke into racing in New Zealand and with his wife he has raced the versatile Frederick, winner of the Grand National Hurdles and the Parliamentary Handicap. Later, Mrs Madsen told how she had bought Rose Mellay in the South Island from Mr S. T. Poulter for $2OOO. Earlier, the bay which was the toast of Ellerslie yesterday had lost some of her sale value because of leg injury, but Mrs Madsen had the active support of her husband in going ahead with the purchase, and even before yesterday the result had been quite rewarding. PLACINGS Rose Mellay was second in both the New Zealand Derby and New Zealand Oaks at Riccarton, then third in the Great Northern Derby. Her run of near misses at Riccarton continued last November when she was second to Mellay Vite in the Metropolitan Handicap and in her final race before the Auckland Cup she was unlucky not to pay a dividend in the Queen Elizabeth Handicap. "I’m pleased Errol twisted my arm hard enough to convince me I should ride his mare in the Auckland Cup,” R. J. Skelton said after yesterday’s race. This victory closed the last remaining gap in Skelton’s magnificent riding record in the top staying races in New Zealand. Before the two-mile races disappeared from the scene with the arrival -of metric distances, he had won 12 two-milers. But the big one at Ellerslie had eluded him until yesterday.

Skelton settled Rose Mellay behind the middle of the field but brought her forward on a steady run and she was alongside Kinetic King in front before they made the home turn.

“A beautiful run, and a good pace,” Skelton said later. “She was always travelling well and when the pressure went on she just found another gear.” A. J. Tweedie, rider of the runner-up, Battle Heights, said: “We were held up for an instant in the straight but that wasn’t enough to lose. A grand effort. P. D. Johnson reported that he had also been held up for a run at the top of the straight, but like most of the others he felt that such an incident could not have had any bearing on the result of the race as far as first place was concerned. However, G. L. Willetts was convinced that Wiremu would have paid a dividend instead of finishing fifth with a reasonable run. Willetts got into cramped quarters behind Jan’s Beau and Peter Puckle coming across the top.

Jan’s Beau was clapped by the big crowd as he led the Cup field a round from home, but sparked off only puzzlement as he came in last but one in the field of 20.

G. R. Edge was at a loss to account for Jan’s Beau’s lack-lustre run. “He was travelling well to the 1200 metres then he just dropped the bit. He was distressed

when he pulled up.” Whatever disappointment Jan’s Beau created in the ranks of his great army of

supporters, there was some compensation for those hoping for a truly-run race. Jan’s Beau carried them at a fast clip almost from the start and Rose Mellay’s great

stamina carried her to the end of Ellerslie’s first 3200 m cup (which is some 61 feet short of two miles) in 3.17 3-5. Run over the true two miles she must have recorded

at least 3.18 4-5 which would have been one-fifth of a second better than II Tempo’s race record.