Avondale stars to duel in Winter Oats

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 1 (Supplement)

Avondale stars to duel in Winter Oats

By

J. J. BOYLE

tham

AT Tren-r I.

Merman and Barry Stuart,b two of the stars of the*: Avondale winter meeting, j will come in for much atten-i tion when they meet in the! Winter Oats, the first leg of the Wellington Racing! Club’s T.A.B. double tomor-' row. They are capable of taking! much of the value away] from the form from earlier! days of the Wellington winter meeting. Merman, the, top weight with 57kg, will i go into this race as the last-; start winner of a middle-dis-j tance weight-for-age race at Avondale last Saturday. A week earlier Merman was; fourth behind Barry Stuart! in the $30,000 Air New Zealand Handicap at Avondale. Merman was attempting'

ito give Barry Stuart 3kg in; 'the rich Avondale race. This' time Barry Stuart is 2.5 kg 'closer and on that adjust-; Iment there should be little! [between them. , i Merman does not have ■ 'much size about him but his' 'record is studded with some, brave performances and the! 'heaviest of tracks in the; 'north have not shown him; at any disadvantage. ! Considering that he won j the Cornwall Handicap in '.Tune and the MitchelsonCup under 55kg last spring,! he does not appear to have’ jcome into this handicap at ■any great disadvantage. | j Ross Hunter, which is; only 4kg below him. has' only one class-one win on! his record. I Ross Hunter made the breakthrough in this grade in the Parliamentary Handicap on Wednesday. He had

[failed in the Welter on the 'first day, running himself out pacemaking. A third ;race in a week in heavy ! ground may make heavy deImands on him but he should (not be as jaded with 'Wednesday’s run as those which struggled in vain to :!keep him within challenging ,'range from the home turn. ! Sweeney Todd, the only ! South Islander in the field. , mav have an edge on some i of 'the others after being ■given a day off on Wednesday. He will have substantial relief in weight from : last Saturday’s Welter in | which he was fading sixth .but still managed to beat ' Ross Hunter. I Head Planet, like Ross [Hunter another accomplished . wet-track galloper sired by : Head Hunter, will go after • his second win for the meet- ! ing in the Onslow Handicap,

?'the second leg of the T.A.B. f double. 1 He was also runner-up in • the corresponding race on - Wednesday and will not 1 have his conqueror, Smart i Fella, in the line-up against ;,him this time. >! Head Planet will probably ’•get stiffest opposition from Bonnie Azure. Affaire ; d’Honneur, and Vermont. . Mr Hickev, the winner' of ?the Great Northern Hurdles ’[this year, will go into the - second leg of the big hurdl--|ing treble, the Wellington I'iHurdles, assured of much 1 ; northern support. But those ’(who saw Rabalam win with 'such ease on a well-soaked s track on Wednesday will be i quick to raise the question £ whether the northerner is . capable of giving the Awai, puni mare B.skg over 3400 m.