Late charge gave The Twinkle brilliant win

Press, 29 December 1980, Page 19

Late charge gave The Twinkle brilliant win

By

J. J. BOYLE

To the surprise of no one, honours in the $15,000 Timaru Cup at Washdyke on Saturday went to a colour bearer for the Dennis brothers, of Southland. Their Coruba Stakes winner, The Fantasy, was the favourite, but that six-year-old’s younger sister, The Twinkle, was the winner with a spectacular charge ] through gaps to peg back ' the courageous Brutus. The Fantasy was a battling third,, dropping away ; slightly close to the end aft.hr, the exertions demanded of -her by a wide barrier position. , . . , The successful jockey, Michael Mein, summarised the position accurately when he said: “The barrier positions determined the result of the race. If The Twinkle had' drawn out and The Fantasy had got the inside run we did, I would have teen watching her get the thick endofit” ' . ' Mein welcomed this change of luck after the disappointment of being stood down by a': doctor when he had high hopes of winning the Dunedin Cup the day beBut for a time in Saturday’s weight-for-age race he was. wondering if traffic problems would shut him away from victory on The Twinkle. _ . The five-year-old Gate Keeper mare was in cramped quarters on ,;, the inside m the middle stages, and there was? no racing room nor her early in the run home. But when Mein manoeuvred her into a gap. she . charged through at a great rate to peg back Brutus just as that five-yeaf-01 d had shaken off a challenge wider out from The, Fantasy? . Thlj : was the Dennis brothers ■ third -'successful raid on Canterbury this sea? Th'eTwinkle won the Jockey Club Handicap for

them at the New Zealand Cup meeting. . The Fantasy triumphed in style in the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Coruba Stakes last month. Next for these, chestnut speedsters will be the Aluminium Smelter Stakes at the Southland Racing Club s New Year meeting. As a further back-up for The 1 Twinkle and The Fanta-

sy, the Dennis brothers have The- Clippie, a close second in the Dunedin Gold Cup on Friday. Brutus, a game fifth under top weight in the Dunedin Cup the day before his Timaru Cup second, will now be prepared for the Reefton Cup, with a campaign at Trentham to follow. If Brutus had been missing from the Timaru Cup field the race would have been a clean weep for Southland stables. Judge Obadiah, from Invercargill, was a creditable fourth and Albatross running for the Ridley stable at Winton, looked close to winning form with her fifth.

Gretna Green and Flying View, which had been the best of The Fantasy’s rivals in the Coruba Stakes at Riccarton, were out of luck in the running on Saturday. Gretna Green struck trouble soon after the start, and Flying View was blocked for racing room when he had a ipn in?hipi they made the straight. Sharebroker, a dominating favourite for the second leg, the Trailways Handicap, was edged out in the last few strides by the Waimatetrained Grand Country, an e i g h t-year-old Country Dance gelding raced by his trainer, Mrs W. R. Wright in nartnership with Mr R. J. Barnes. '

Jim Collett brought Grand Country along with the last run at Sharebroker, and the Gore horseman’s vigour counted for much in the final pinch. Collett was lucky to escape injury in the next race, the St Andrews Handicap. His - mounts' Lucky Dream was tripped by the falling Jack Hobbs when they were leaving the straight soon after the start. Jack Hobbs’s jockey, Alex Cowan jun., also cam out of the fall unscathed, but his mount caused some worries as he careered on riderless with the other runners.

Kevin Morton decided the best course was to get Jack Hobbs behind, and his decision to kick up and take Kingswood clear ; before the home turn’supplied the turn? ing point of the race. - Kingswood- . straightened with a wide lead, and none of the others looked likely to get near him.