Young—but talented

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 1 (Supplement)

Young—but talented

By

J. J. Boyle

Youth should have its day in the VVingatui Handicap, first leg of the Otago Racing Club’s T.A.B, double tomorrow.

IC-V-ct It*.* Li •> .1 Ilt'tllclo IVlv llciy | at four years, is the youngest in the field of modest quality, and if he is in anything like the form he showed for a second on his home track earlier this month, he should safely hold out his elders. The performance likely to assure Thomas Mellay of favouritism at Wingatui was his close, fast-finishing second to Entourage in the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Midsummer Handicap. Stephen Laughton, the Riccarton apprentice who rode the Midsummer winner, will be on Thomas Mellay tomorrow.

Laughton will probably ride Thomas Mellay some way off the pace and will bank on the chestnut’s finishing powers to pay off at the end of 2400 m.

Blue Day, from the Winsloe stable at Gore, and a laststart fourth at Invercargill, is regarded in the south as the most likely stumbling block for Thomas Mellay. The field for the Autumn Handicap, second leg of the T.A.B. double, is stacked with form runners. But the best of the southerners might be all out to contain a last-start failure, the Riccarton-trained Kowliai Glen. This five-year-old will have no great boom on him after his failure in the White Robe Lodge Stakes last week, but he will be back to his best distance of 1400 m tomorrow. His most recent race at 1400 m was at Riccarton on February 5, when he carried 57kg into third behind Nuriootpa and The Swagger. His carded weight tomorrow is 55kg, and it might be possible to reduce that by the engagement of an apprentice. Great Blaze, fourth, a nose

behind Kowhai Glen in the C.J.C. Craven Plate, is also capable of matching most if not all the southern hopes. Trade Secret, a winner at her four starts, and a half sister to Top Secret, which has won at two of her last four appearances, should be strong runners for their Southland owner-breeders. Mr and Mrs J. S. Mclntosh, and the Wingatui stable of Cliff Reese-Jones.

Another interesting runner for Wingatui will be the promising three-year-old Rocky Leigh, a close second in the Southland Guineas in January.