Eirene improves record of southern horses

Press, 31 May 1977, Page 33

Eirene improves record of southern horses

Eirene improved the' record of South Island-bred’ horses in the North Island! when she won the second di-1 vision of the Masterton i Maiden on Saturday. The four-year-old daughter of Greek God and Dorene, failed to reach the reserve' when offered by her Wee-! dons breeders, Mr and Mrs I Dick Jennings, as a three-! year-old at the 1975 South I island Bloodstock Sales ini Christchurch. Eirene was passed out of, the ring at $2BOO but was! later bought privately for $3lBO by a client of Eric Ropiha’s Woodville stable. Eirene did nothing of note in a handful of starts late last season but before Saturday’s victory she had been placed in four of her eight previous starts as a four-year-old. Her dam, Dorene, a daughter of We Don’t Know and Mirene, was unraced and her Igrandam, Mirene, did not get

beyond the minor-place stage in her career but her third dam, Derene, was a good winner in the colours of Messrs Jennings and J. D. Tait, and included among her victories the 1947 Great Easter Handicap at Riccarton. This is the family from which the dual Melbourne Cup winner, Think Big, de scends. His dam, Sarcelle, was a daughter of Oman and Citril, a sister to Derene and winner of the 1949 Great Easter Handicap. Dorene has produced two further foals since Eirene, Her 1974 Lautrec filly has been reserved for the stud but her yearling colt by Keekerok is at present being educated for a racing career.