Grey Way among famous company if he wins today

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34131, 19 April 1976, Page 8

Grey Way among famous company if he wins today

Grey Way will match a feat performed by that other famous South Canterbury bred, Phar Lap, and precious few others if, as expected, he wins the George Adams Handicap at Riccarton today.

Grey Way w ill be I going after his four-' teenth win in a season, a feat performed by Phar I.ap. as well as Tulloch, Desert Gold, Ajax, and Syntax. Ana a victory ' n ’be first) leg of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s T.A.B. double would give Mr Pieter South’s famous grey a career record of 32 wins, bringing him level with the brilliantly • versatile Redcraze. Stake earnings in different 1 eras do not invite similar comoar'-ons. but. for all that. Grey Way is on the threshold of another dis-1 place in New) Zealand and Australian turf recon's today. He started the season as, winner of $48,475. and the! winner’s prize in the George: Adams Handicap would carry him into the six-figure club — to $102,300.

I Thai, for a five-year-old which has toiled almost ex-j clusively in the less reward-] ing domain of sprinter-’ “milers,” is something to I marvel at. And it invites the] opinion — backed by hisi sure mastery of 2000 metres in the Awapuni Gold Cup —I that another season will! bring with it even more rewarding results. In probably his final racej for the season today. Grey! Way will be ridden by the! stable horseman, Doug' Holden. Holden was also Grey I t Way’s partner when the] Grev William gelding won; his first race of the season,! : one that yielded no more; I than $9OO in a sprint at Ashburton on September 9. As Holden knows, and as| Bob Skelton has found on a triumphant North Island campaign this autumn. Grey Wav runs his races in the; relaxed style of the true ath-i lets, yet able to run within close touch of the pace. I

He has been tripped byi i less than firm tracks, but! I should have ground to suit! him today, and nothing; {short of a dramatic fallaway in form or wretched' i luck in running should stop! : him from supplying that! I much-anticipated feature of ’ today’s racing at Riccarton. I A track of a firmness to| : suit Grey Way will also! ! ensure a brave run from Au-! Idaciter, the winner of his, I last four races, and the clos-l lest in the weights to the; Washdyke star. ! Audaciter’s front-running i powers hold promise of a ! strong, even pace; his dash ! and tenacity make him a very strong claimant for one of the places. Duntroon, from Kaikoura, ! Game Warrior, from Gore, ' Surge Again, from Riccarton, and the North Islanders, Unlucky In Love and Zetland. might be engaging! most attention at the end ofj I the Great Easter Handicap,'

r I second leg of the T.A.B. tldouble. .1 It will be Unlucky In ■lLove’s first race since she • triumphed in the Members’ 11 Handicap over the same dis- >! tance at Riccarton in Not vember but she is of the f; Bellborough tribe, many of I which show formidable >1 powers fresh up. Unlucky In Love ’is pre--1 pared at Awapuni by Garth ;[lvil, who arrived from the [North Island yesterday, also ; I bringing with him one of the more talented claimants for ’ the Champagne Stakes i honours today. 1 The stable’s two-year-old 1 hopeful is Steel Heart, the 5 only youngster in the classic with four victories to his , credit, one of them the Plun- , ket Nursery at Trentham in - March. , Those expected to put - heaviest pressure on Steel ■fHeart are Bell Flight, Cofilada, and the Riccarton- , I trained Lady Lucifer.