Strong northern interest in big Riccarton races

Press, 19 July 1979, Page 21

Strong northern interest in big Riccarton races

fd

By

J. J. BOYLE

General entries for the Grand National meeting do not close until this afternoon. but it was already clear yesterday that North Island owners ot the top horses have their sights set on Riccarton.

One of the more inter-! esting entries for the Grand N.tional Steeplechase is Regenerate, impressive winner of a chasing double at the! Great Northern meeting in ! June. After a victory in the Ta-' maki Steeplechase on Great| Northern Steeples day. Regenerate was stepped' up al grade in the McGregor! G.ant Steeples on the final da' It was easy for him. He! came home on his own 12 i lengths to the good. Regc.arate did not live up: t. his breeding in his pro- I gr mme of flat racing, but he is well on the way to-)' wards fashioning a reward-1 ing record over jumps forli his owner. Mr I. H. Steffen. ! Regenerate will go into) the Grand National Steeple-it chase as a seven-year-old.il

He is by Stipulate, one of I the most talented middle) distance and staying horses) of his time — it was his ill j luck to be a contemporary I of Great Sensation — and I his dam. Culminate is al grand-daughter of the great] race mare. Cuddle. Regenerate is from the! Neville Atkins stable at! W iuku. Atkins has also! entered Patrone for the! Grand National Steeplechase,) and he believes this rising' six-year-old will show to) best advantage over big) fences like Riccarton’s. I; Manasco, winner of the Waikato Steeplechase ini] May. is another interesting] northern entry for the Grand)I National. ]■ This Stratford ’chaser wonr the Waikato Steeplechase by 11 two lengths from Midas 11

Touch, and was 12 lengths] better than Ballycastle (third). But he failed to stay) in the gruelling Great North-! ern Steeplechase, leaving the! impression that he will con-1 tinue to find more rewarding! chances on the flat courses) like Te Rapa's and Riccar-i ton’s. Ballycastle, the hero ofl the 1978 Great Northern) meeting, did not find the same form when taken back) to Ellerslie this year, and! these last few weeks he has! been embarked on a pro-1 gramme designed to have] him at peak for the Grand! National. He failed to get around in) the Hawke’s Bay Steeples, won by High Chief, but was] very much in the race until he lost his rider 300 m out,) the spot where Washdyke’s!

Terex slipped and fell on landing. High Chief has also won the Wellington Steeples in the meantime, to become one of the biggest jumping winners of the winter. He did not run in the Grand National Steeples last year but ran fourth in the Giand National Hurdles. Hunting Chief and Chandos, the hurdles stars at the Wellington meeting, are among the entries for the Grand National Hurdles, and Rising Damp and Luck Roona, two of the top performers on the flat at Tren-I tham, have been entered for the Winter Cup. Another northerner entered for the Winter Cups is Shifnal Chief, the impres- j sive winner of the race three years ago.