Popular win for Nigel Craig in Dominion

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 20

Popular win for Nigel Craig in Dominion

Bv

G. K. YULE

Nigel Craig at last broke through for a major win, showing the courage he is renowned for to hold off a determined challenge from Best Bet in the Dominion Handicap at Addington Raceway yesterday.

! The race thrilled the ■crowd, many of whom won-; jdered would Nigel Craig; 'have the reserves of stamina] i to stay in front from' the lend of 400 m and last it out I at the end of a race which involved slogging three times into the teeth of a strong easterly wind. But last it out he did to the delight of the crowd, which gave him a wonderful reception. Applause and cheering broke out again when the Governor-General (Sir Keith Holyoake) presented the trophy attached to the event to the father-and-son training and driving combination of 73-year-old Lance Heron and 32-year-01d Bevan. For Nigel Craig it was his twenty-second win, 13 of Them at Addington. He has

mow had 69 starts and has also been placed 24 times ;for $75,365 in stakes, plus ($5lOO won from a time trial and a match race. He will now contest the free-for-all on the final night of the meeting and then go back to Auckland to race in a mile race at the Thames meeting in mid-December, to be followed by a $25,000 at Alexandra Park at few weeks later. There is also a possibility that he will contest the Stars Travel Miracle Mile on December 3 before going north. Lance Heron is keen to start in that event against the pacers, but Bevan has reservations at this stage. He will also be entered for the Inter-Dominion Championship series in Melbourne in March.

I An eight-year-old gelding by Protector from Pipetre, he was bred at Murchison by Mr Dave Oxnam and bought for $475 as a ling“I tried him as a pacer for a couple of days but quickly realised that he was a trotter," said Bevan Heron yesterday. “Even as a trotter he wasn’t much and it wasn’t until Peter Scholes operated on his hocks as an early five-year-old that he suggested he might be a bit better than average.” Bevan Heron said that several offers had been made for Nigel Craig, one being $BO,OOO, but it was not considered enough. “A six-figure sum,”- he said when asked what price the partnership had on the horse. “If someone comes ■ with the

money he can have him,” he added.

Nigel Craig, named after Bevan Heron's two sons, Nigel aged 11, and Craig, aged nine, went to the front at the end of the first 400 m lisa Voss cut at him for a time and the pace was a torrid one, with the leaders covering the first 1600 m in a smart 2min 6.6 sec.

Nigel Craig carried on at a merry clip, with Best Bet travelling comfortably in the trail. Armbro Lady and Easton Light sprinted up from the 800 m to follow the two leaders into the straight. John Langdon pulled Best Bet out with about 200 m to go and it looked as though Nigel Craig would be tested. However, he displayed all of the courage which had marked so much of his racing to held off Best Bet by three-parts of a length, which was the closest the runner-up got to him in the run home.

Waipounamu, handy enough all the way, fought on resolutely for third with a similar margin to the old timer, Easton Light, which galloped short of he post.

After an inquiry Easton Light was relegated to fifth and Our Evander was promoted.

“He trotted a mighty race,” said Peter Jones, who replaced Bruce Running, after Running became unavailable to drive on the day. “He’s the best trotter I’ve driven,”- said Jones of Easton Light. “The only reason he brokeewas because he was a little sore.”

Easton Light trotted he 3200 m in 4mu> 13.4 sec. Alias Armbro, which was slightly better backed than Nigel Craig on the win totalisator, broke at the start and again after 200 m. He tailed the field afterwards.