Racing and trotting Canterbur's best humbled by 'invader's

Press, 13 September 1976, Page 24

Racing and trotting Canterbur's best humbled by 'invader's

Canterbury’s best Mere humbled in three feature races at Ashburton on Saturday. The Richmond i Nelson)! stablemates Battle Joy and: Mr Richmond had th- finish, of the Ashburton Cup to. themselves, with Battle Joy coming out on to. bv three! parts of a length. Waronui, from Wingatui. t Won the John Grigg Stakes j as a short-priced favourite., and Kowhai Gt improved’ a strong record in sprint i races on Canterbury courses! bv capturing the Dominion j Breweries Handicap for the I G-'vmouth stable o‘ Tom Lalor. In the skilful hands ofi Max Skelton Battle Joy) found a little mor> finishing speed than Mr Richmond to carry off the Ashburton Cupi for her Nelson ownerbreeder. Mr Bob Wadsworth. But honours between the) stablemates rested pretty i evenly. Mr Richmond was ridden by the Riccarton apprentice?

Brent L , who is one of the more promising of the vounger rop of Canterbury riders and will take a big step towards a highe. level i of competence when he gives up the habit of looking bejhind him after striking the , front in home straights. Battle Joy was the onlyrunner in the Ashburton Cup fs’-ed by the highly successful Battle-Waggon. Mr Wadsworth bred her Ifrom Jovalice, a non-Stud ißool mare but one of the earliest representatives in the IS uth Island of the brilliantly successful stallion I Pakistan ’I. J"hn Healev w’-.o prepares! ißattle Joy. guided Jovalice! through her three-year-old | programme which produced: four wins. ,■ Jovalice won a fifth race.l ~from the Riccarton stable of the late John Barr. Joyaiice’s dam. Lips and I I Downs (by The Unicorn) (showed family preference for easv footing bv winning a .two-year-old race at Tren'tharr in those conditions

from the Awapuni stable of I Eric Temperton. She changed hands before] he four-year-old racing, and! won three races from the Richmond sta' ’ her partowner, T. W. Read, none of them being of any account. IMPROVEMENT Kowhai Glen, whose emh on t j first day of the meeting was right out of character, made the exp-ited improvement to carry off the second leg of the T.A.B. double on Saturday. He struck real opposition only from the light-weight, Red Jekyll, but his stronger finish gave him victory by ha . a length. This was K' hai Glen’s tenth win in a year for Mr E. J. Johnson, who bred the son of Greek God from Kowhai Princess, b- Prince! Mahal. Kowhai Glen won one of I the minor r ”»s at the Ash-j burton n. eting a year ago,! ar- 4 the Omoto trainer, Torn) Lalor, has had a number ofi rewarding return ,ps to] Canterbury w-ith him in the!

[meantime, one of them pro’ducing a victory in the Can- : terbury Jockey Club’s ISelwyn Handicap last month Dandyman, a winner fresh up on the first day of the meeting, was only a so-so sixth this time, but hi will be following a predictable i pattern if, after a freshener, he comes back as good as ever for racing on his home track at the Otago spring meeting.