Canterbury did well in Wingatui’s mud and slush

Press, 3 October 1977, Page 18

Canterbury did well in Wingatui’s mud and slush

By

J. J. BOYLE

Canterbury-trained horses had successes out of propor-

tion to their numbers in the mud and slush Wingatui offered at the Otago Racing Club’s spring meeting on

Saturday m Ambrose Lodge, from Washdyke, and Rosearna, from Rangiora, carried off the T.A.B. double races, the W ilnll .trained Timber Creek was a surprise winner of the Avondale Handicap, and the Tuahiwi trainer, Ray Harris, won the divisions of the First Members’ Maiden

with Lochinora and Dellarca and the Telegraph Handicap with Leroy Brown. None of the Canterbury-

trained winners placed any strain on the judge’s eye. In fact the wideness of the margins was one of the few consistent patterns to

come out °f the at races on the card, and this was a somew h at surprising trend after the hurdles, the first race of the day, supplied a neck and neck finish with Celsius gave it a great try for Riccarton under top weight of 66kg, and might have swelled the good Canterbury record if he had

jumped the last flight a little better. Ambrose Lodge was backed down to favoritism for the D, P. Wilson Memorial and there was no doubting the strength of his hold on the race after the Riccarton horseman, Brent Lee, bustled him into a clear lead about 600 m out. Ambrose Lodge might be short on class, but he likes Wingatui when it comes up mud there and has now won five races on the course. He is raced by Mr Jack Taylor, of Dunedin, a son of the late Mr S. S. Taylor, who raced several horses including the high-class race mare, First In, from the

stable of the late Dave Wilson some 30 years ago, Ambrose Lodge missed by a nose — Butch was the winner — when he tried to win another D. P. Wilson Memorial at Greymouth last November. Immediate plans for Ambrose Lodge will probably include a campaign in Southland, and this year's New Zealand Cup will have a ready-made pacemaker if, as intended, he goes into that race in November. Barry Jones, the Washdyke trainer of Ambrose Lodge, has another Cup hopeful in Royal Dell. Rocky Leigh, though in a gap of two and a half lengths from Ambrose Lodge on Saturday, made dogged headway in the last 600 m. He was taken out wide on the home turn, a ploy that is used to advantage on winter tracks at Riccarton, but appears to be a pointless exercise in similar situations at Wingatui. Having shown equally good form on top of the f round and in the soft, ;ocky Leigh seems likely to be in for a rewarding four-year-old campaign. He beat Diamond Pal by a length for second on Saturday, and they had a straggling procession behind them. Rosearna, a robust-looking Greek God mare from the Rangiora stable of John Parsons, made one act of the Salisbury Handicap, and pulled away in the straight to win by five lengths in the hands of Dennis Eva, who like Ambrose Lodge’s rider Brent Lee travelled south with only one race ride in his engagement book. Young Stephen Woodsford, a promising apprentice in the Harris stable, combined successfully with Leroy Brown for the second time in five days, this time for an authoritative win in the Telegraph Handicap. Earlier in the day Woods, ford landed Dellarca an easy winner in a division of a maiden event, much to the delight of his father who is part-owner of the Della Porta gelding.