Katea Lad to complete double today

Press, 12 June 1978, Page 18

Katea Lad to complete double today

From G. K. YULE in Nelson

Saturday was a benefit day for the de Filippi brothers, Michael, aged 27, and Colin, aged 25, who between them won seven races at Richmond Park.

Colin had four wins, including a hat-trick, one third, one sixth and one seventh from his seven drives, while Michael had three wins, a fifth and a failure to finish after being tossed from the sulky in a mix-up in the Dianthus Girl Handicap. The de Filippi’s are unlikely to find the second day of the Nelson winter meeting quite so rewarding, but they should again have a big say in the decision of the T.A.B. double.

On Saturday, Michael de Filippi won the Caltex Gold Cup in impressive style with Master Regal which beat Hunter Direct by three lengths. "He had a pretty hard race for an inexperienced horse and if I start him again this season it will be at Blenheim on Wednesday,” he said.

He will have two runners in the Dominion Breweries Handicap, the first leg of today's double. Copper Hanover went a respectable race for sixth on Saturday, but the prospect of another heavy track does little to heighten her chances. But Lopez Boy, a

stylish winner over Gentle Tag in the Goodland Handicap on Saturday, should bridge the gap to this class without too much difficulty. Lopez Boy made the pace and won handily over 2200 m on Saturday. The extra 200 m in this race should be well within his capabilities and it

will be surprising if he fails to make a bold bid. Hunter Direct was far from disgraced when worn down by Master Regal on Saturday. The shorter distance strengthens his prospects and he should make Lopez Boy work hard. Taringa Bay and First Encounter made up tremendous leeway over the last 600 m ofSaturday’s big race to finish third and fourth some nine lengths from Hunter Direct. Both will be in demand again with First Encounter appealing greatly over this shorter distance.

The others would have to improve immensley on their first-day showings to have any chance and the pick of them could be Billie Burke and Remorse.

Katea Lad and Single Lord provided a home-town quinella in the Norwich Union Handicap, the second leg of Saturday’s double and they could easily repeat today in the corresponding race, the Sportsman Filter Handicap. Katea Lad should again be the master of Single Lord even though he will start from 20m. Once again he will be driven by Colin de Filippi,

who also handled him in his initial race win at Methven in the autumn. Katea Lad was never far from the pacemaking Single Lord on Saturday and, over the last 200 m, he raced away from that runner to win with ease by three lengths and a half. The Tarport Coulter four-year-old is trained at Richmond by his part-owner, Michael Austin, and he seems more adept in the bad ground on his home course than any of the others in the event.

Single Lord will again be a leading prospect, while Prince Nugent, Cheeky Wave and perhaps Ripper’s Image, If started here in preference to the Kirby’s handicap, will have to be considered. There will be an on-course treble run on the Bonniebum Handicap, the C. S. Donald Memorial and the Turf Hotel Handicap. The Methven trainer, Max Miller, who trained Bonnieburn after which the first race is named, looks to have a grand chance of winning the first two legs.

He will drive Terrance Frost in the first leg and after his second to Ganelon on Saturday he looks the likely winner. His second leg runner will be Ponderosa Ginge, second to the first starter Moorfield on Saturday. He deserves a win and it should come here. The first-day maiden graduates Flaxton, Ganelon and Zarzuella should dominate the finish to the final leg, although All Trouble, which quinellaed the corresponding race on Saturday with his stablemate Ungava, will have to be considered.