Racing and trotting Hunting Chief spanned long gap in racing history

Press, 17 July 1978, Page 16

Racing and trotting Hunting Chief spanned long gap in racing history

By

J. J. BOYLE

Hunting Chief completed one of the most unusual doubles of the year when he captured the Wellington Hurdles at Trentham on Saturday.

The galloping ability hej shows on heavy tracks had; given him victory in the ; Parliamentary Handicap! three days earlier. On Saturday his pace, sta-1 mma and economical jump I ing provided a combination . of talents none of the others could match. He is the first horse in 51 years to capture the Parliamentary and the big hurdles at the same meeting. In 1927 Nukumai went one better. He started his Trentham campaign that year by winning the Whyte Handicap under 9.12 by t three lengths. Then he won] the Parliamentary under 10.9, by four lengths and the hurdles, then known as the Winter Hurdles, with 11.8.' In the hurdles he beati Wharncliffe which came on; to Riccarton to win the! Grand National Hurdles. | At 10 years Hunting Chief i is the oldest to win a Parliamentary, but Nukumai was' 12 when he won his third! Winter Hurdles in 1931.1 seven years after his first! success in that race.

Nukumai also captured the : Grand National Hurdles, but not in the same year of any one of his famous hurdle I victories at Trentham. I Hunting Chief will be I after the big one at Riccariton next month, and if the race is run over a heavy track he might give the historians another brilliant chapter for the records. Hunting Chief was ridden oik Saturday by Stephen Jenkins, who was also completing a rewarding double. Eaflier in the day young Jenkins partnered Step In] , Line skilfully for victory in! 'the Eric Riddiford Steeple-; chase. The big Ruddingtonl I gelding from Alan Kaye’s; Awapuni stable was the outsider of the field of five and 1 won by two and a half lengths from Manasco, al newcomer at the meeting attempting a third successive; win. Step In Line finished third! in the Wellington Steeple-1 chase a week earlier.] Michael Gillies, who rode] him in that race, was on 1

I Manasco in the Riddiford, ■ and rode in Saturday's race j knowing he was to miss two ] days’ racing next week, having been suspended for causI ing interference to Oh I Brother in the Wellington Steeplechase. High Chief, the second favourite for the Riddiford, and the Wellington Steeples winner, had to settle for a fairly distant third this time, and Oh Brother struggled in five lengths further back. The Riddiford ended Scen-i ic Reserve’s unbeaten record lover country., ' The big six-year-old from the Waikato engaged MaInasco in the lead for a long I way but was thoroughly ; spent 800 m out, and was 'tailing the field when he ! landed over the last fence, ; took two strides and (dropped to the ground. ! Hundreds of spectators! 'watched anxiously as his rider, Dennis Gray, and a] veterinarian made efforts to; pull the big bay to his feet. I After some minutes Scenic) Reserve stood up, and as he I

did so the crowd clapped him. Scenic Reserve did not take any obvious hurt from his fall, and he will be brought on to Riccarton for the Grand National. He won the Enfield Steeples in his only start of the 1976 Grand National meeting. Hopes of having Saso at Riccarton for the Grand National meeting disappeared on Saturday. Saso was showing signs of ligament trouble after he won the Haywards Steeplechase on Saturday, and he might need a lengthy absence from racing. The Awapuni-trained Lomond gelding probably placed extra strain on ligaments when he knuckled over in the deep ground on landing over the last fence I with a clear lead. He kept going doggedly in no danger lof defeat, beating the best of his tired rivals by 15 'lengths, a wider margin than he won the Mariri Steeples Iby on the first day of the meeting.