Langeland to miss Australian trip

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 30

Langeland to miss Australian trip

Special correspondent Auckland ;. A Melbourne spring camoaign for ■ Langeland has been called, off. If the horse goes 'to Australia it will be for winter, racing next year. Langelarid was among the entries for the ; Caulfield Cup and one of the most-dis-cussed New Zealand nominations for the big race on October 18. I A five-year-old gelding by Copenhagen 11, he won four of his 13 races last season, including the Thompson Handicap, at Trentham, and' after a winter spell, ■ resumed in a sprint at Wanganui last Saturday. It was after he failed then to do as .well as expected that plans for Melbourne were abandoned. “He went too keenly to give , himself any chance,” said, one of the two partowners, Mr N. J. Collins,' from- Wanganui yesterday.

“He has been ’4 late developer and we think now that Australia this. Spring;. could be a bit early for him.”. All going well, Mr Collins continued, Langblahd would be taken to Sydney next May for a .winter programme which would include the Queensland camivBlue Denim has. taken ho harm, apparently, from her race at Avondale on Saturday when she ran only modestly in the Bardstown Stakes, according to her trainer D. J. O’Sullivan. Conceding that . Blue Denim looked well enough at Avondale, O’Sullivan said he had not been over confident of her winning. ■ “She came up . quickly last season, certainly,”

O’Sullivan said, “but now that she is five she might well take a little longer to regain form.” The way in which Blue Denim’ gets through a three-

race programme between now and early October will decide whether she is allowed an attempt- bn the Melbourne Cup. Ithe next one for her will be the La Trobe HilL Handicap over 1906 m at Rotorua ph Septhmbet, 16, with the 2200 m Spring Handicap at Ellerslie on September 27 arid the Matatnaia Cup, 2030 m on October 7 to follow. . .... . ■'i-. “She will need to show Something in those, : certainly at Ellhrslie and Matamata;” O’Sullivan said, “if she is going to be worth taking to Melbourne.’’. ■ ' . .. . . Blue Denim Is booked to be flown to Melbourne on or about. October’ 10. Once there her lea’d-u’p racing to the Melbourne Cup would be at wbight-for-age in the W. S. Cox Plate, at MoOhee Valley, and the L. K. S. Mackirinoh Stakes at Flemington On November 1, three days before the Cup.