Racing and trotting Brutus gives Ron Weaver lucky win in Guineas

Press, 22 November 1978, Page 28

Racing and trotting Brutus gives Ron Weaver lucky win in Guineas

Special correspondent Invercargill Stephen Woodsford’s suspension at Hokitika on Monday had a lucky twist for the Invercargill jockey Ron Weaver, who then secured the catch mount on the Tua-hiwi-trained colt. Brutus, subsequently declared outright winner in yesterday's incident-packed $lO,OOO Southland Guineas at Invercargill. Brutus completed a notable double as he was a dashing) winner of last month’s I $lO,OOO Gore Guineas Trial. In an incident-packed final l 300 m culminating in The] Twinkle crossing the finish-) ing line on equal terms with) Brutus, the latter, in a sub-j sequent inquiry was declared: the outright winner. The Twinkle, ridden by A. K. Robinson. hampered Brutus when she lugged in over the final 300 m. first at the 250 m and again 75! metres out. Brutus would have been unlucky not to be awarded' the race outright as he had been responsible for all the'

pace and rallied gamely to) get to grips again with’The Twinkle which had hampered him noticeably with her lugging tendencies. It was considered that Robinson had not taken sufficient remedial action to straighten The Twinkle. He was subsequently charged with careless riding and fined $4O. Lady Mahal, which received a beautiful run on the second line was third five lengths and a half away. Shading Tui’s Lass which was badb' checked at the 800 m and again at the top ; of the straight when struck by another rider’s whip. “It was only greenness,” said Robinson afterwards of i The Twinkle’s lugging tendencies in the straight. Kevin Morton, the rider of - Kotechie (ninth) said his < mount hung throughout the i contest. ] Brutus, a full brother to i the speedy two-year-old Et Tu, is trained at Tuahiwi, i north of Christchurch, by i Ray Harris. > Brutus is a neat type of i colt by the Ballymoss horse 1 '

IBalios which stands at stud at Hawera and one of whose owners is the former All Black loose forward Alistair Scown. Nothing could be taken away from Brutus as he forced all the pace and had to reveal rare gameness for a three-year-old after being headed by The Twinkle, which looked all over the winner inside the last 200 m. The Twinkle went so close to emulating the feat of her dam The Pixie, winner of the 1972 contest. She has been troubled slightly by a splint and will be given a fortnight’s easy training and will then be readied for Broadlands series races in Canterbury over the holiday period. The big disappointment was the favourite Lejanc which raced keenly up on the outside of the pacemaker and faded from the turn. His failure was the subject of an official stipendiary inquiry. Rider. Steve Allen, said his, mount could produce nothing extra when tried with the) whip on the turn. This was in accord with official observations.