Hybrow wins Stakes

Press, 28 May 1979, Page 25

Hybrow wins Stakes

Special correspondent Auckland Although a couple of his rivals had good claim to being unlucky, Hybrow firmly retained his mantle as the country’s best-performed two-year-oid at Alexandra Park on Saturday.

Driven splendidly by G. M. Hillier, Hybrow led all the way in the Thames Juvenile Stakes and ran on too well for his rivals, scoring by nearly two lengths. He went the smart time of 2min 50.5 s only Imin 4s outside Lord Module’s course and national record for 2200 m. Dictatorship, which was under a strong hold in the middle stages, looked desperately unlucky not to secure a clear run in the home straight, being hemmed in behind the leader, with John Tudor boxing him in. Dictatorship lunged forward near the finish to shade, John Tudor, which, nevertheless, stuck on gamely after being parked out for the last round. The big disappointment of the race was Mountain Haze, which lacked any dash over the last 600 m. He ran in a shade with just over a round to go but was unable to spring when the pace went on. He ended up a wellbeaten seventh. Another disappointment was Gazebo, which finished well back. He pulled a shoe during the race and was unable to handle the bends. His run gave his connections serious doubts about continuing with an Australian campaign. He was due to leave yesterday

for Melbourne but the flight has been put back until Wednesday. Hybrow has now had 10 wins — 11 if one includes a Kumeu course totalisator meeting victory that netted $5OO. That win, however, will not be officially recognised. The tall Armbro Hurri-cane-Hillcrest colt has earned $20,695 including trophies. He has had three seconds, one third and two fourths from 20 starts. His Manurewa ownertrainer, Mr J. Clark, now plans to tackle the $5OOO Te Awamutu Juvenile pace at Cambridge on June 8 before aiming his colt for the $ll,OOO N.Z. Juvenile Championship at Alexandra Park on June 23.

Ryal Pont, handy on the outside mainly, battled on for fourth. Hurricane Shannon, the second favourite, came next after trailing three back on the fence throughout. Rosewood Dale, a Imin 59.5 s performer at Addington last season, looked more like her capable seif when she produced a strong late run to win the Jim Verran Stakes.

She fought on very well to beat, Lee Nandina by a neck. The warm favourite, Rambling Kidd, tried again for an end-to-end victory, but once more faded towards the finish and ended up third. Rosewood Dale had no recent form and as a result was the rank outsider except one. However, she had hinted of an improvement with a good trials showing during the week.