Racing and trotting Trotter wins Rowe Cup first time up

Press, 21 May 1979, Page 25

Racing and trotting Trotter wins Rowe Cup first time up

Special correspondent Auckland Even Speed, the brilliant winner of the Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park on Saturday, is the first trotter one of his owners, Mr I. H. Langford, has raced. “It won’t be the] last,” he said after the race, i Many people have struck' the “jacLpot” with the first I horse they have owned.] What is remarkable in Mr] Langford’s case is that he has been prominent in trotting for a long time. But all his horses have been pacers. Mr Langford, who comes i from Oxford, bred Even ] Speed. He races the gelding i in partnership with Dr B. | W. Nixon, of Greymouth. From the moment the i trainer-driver, W. R. Butt, took Even Speed to the front about 800 m from the finish, the result of the Rowe Cup was never in doubt. Even Speed was out on his own rounding the home turn and Butt did not have to ask him for a serious effort to score bv two and

.three-quarter lengths from I the Cambridge mare Game] ■Folly. | Another mare, Framalda, . came with a solid run to run , Game Folly close, with Waii pounamu plugging on for , fourth. It is doubtful whether any iNew Zealand trotter has /fashioned a better record ithan Even Speed. . ] He began his career as a ] three-year-old and immedi- : ately showed exceptional ability, so much so that he set a record for his age and gait by winning nine races. i Although now in his third season of racing, he has had a total of only 23 starts. He I has won 15 of them and been further back than fifth ; only twice. His earnings are $48'095, of which $23,120 ■ has been won this season. ■ Even Speed is by the out- : standing sire of trotters, II Great Evander, from Swift I Sarah, which Mr Langford i also bred. > He said on Saturday that ;lhe had bought Swift Sarah’s -1 dam, Millie Brigade about 13 Lor 14 vears ago for $l4OO.

i, He put her to Goodland, d which he also owned, and Swift Sarah was her second , i foal. She never raced. The Australian visitors, Silken and Albey Logan, ■ were eighth and twelfth respectively in Saturday’s big race. Silken virtually ruined her I prospects by breaking early. She made a big run with a . little over a round to go but, not surprisingly, could not carry on. Albey Logan faded : badly after being in front I going into the back the last time. I Majestic Charger coml pleted a fine double for the i meeting when he outclassed I the opposition in the Adams i Memorial. ■ He made all the pace and I just left the others to it over the final stages. At-the post, he was out , by five lengths from Gina : Marie, with Myron a length 1 back third. This was the same order as in the Reg ; Lewis Memorial on the sec--5 ond night of the meeting last Wednesday.