Look out L.B.J., says T.J.S.

Press, 5 August 1980, Page 23

Look out L.B.J., says T.J.S.

News of Little Brown Jug’s win in the Paparua Handicap at Riccarton on Saturday made banner headlines in Australian newspapers.

The brilliant Riccarton four-year-old has come in for heavy Australian backing for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups since his win on Saturday. But the ebullient Sydney trainer T. J. (Tommy ) Smith believes his pair, Kingston Town and Mighty Kingdom, will be stumbling blocks for Little Brown Jug in the cups.

Smith saw Little Brown Jug win the Wellington Stakes and run second to Lovelace Watkins in the

Wellington Derby at Trentham last January.

“Little Brown Jug pulled too hard in the Wellington Derby to convince me he is the right type for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups,” Smith said yesterday. “He would have to relax more early to have a chance of beating my Cup runners — Kingston Town in the Melbourne Cup and Mighty Kingdom in the Caulfield Cup.” Kingston Town is top weight in both cups, with 59.5 kg in the Melbourne Cup and with half a kilo more at Caulfield.

Mighty Kingdom’s Melbourne Cup weight is 57.5 kg and he has half a kilo more in the Caulfield Cup. Little Brown Jug is in the Melbourne Cup with 55ikg and the Caulfield Cup with 56kg. The big cup races do not loom large in Peter Jones’s early plan of campaign for Melbourne. His immediate concern is to get Little Brown Jug settled in and able to prepare for earlier races in the best possible conditions. He said yesterday he was having second thoughts about making his headquarters at Momington.

A xyet winter has left its mark on the training tracks at Mornington, and Jones, might make his base at

Epsom where the facilities could not be bettered anywhere. Epsom is much closer ,to the city tracks, and Jones has been offered two boxes in a stable at that centre.

Little Brown Jug pleased Jones greatly by the way he came through last Saturday’s race, “It improved him out • of sight,” Jones said yesterday as he watched the four-

year-old do pace work at Riccarton. Cliff Reese Jones, the Wingatui-based brother of Little Brown Jug’s trainer, said yesterday he would not decide: before next week-end whether he would take Belle Camille to Melbourne , . Belle Camille, an unlucky second in the Winter Cup, will step up to 2000 m in the $lO,OOO Amalgamated Handicap on the final day of the Grand National meeting, and her fortunes in that race might, shape this talented galloper’s spring programme.