Strydom and Norton impressive

Press, 4 May 1981, Page 29

Strydom and Norton impressive

Strydom and Norton pro- < vided two of the features at the New Brighton Club’s : meeting at Addington Race- : way on Saturday when they : won the Redcliffs Handicap : .nd t.ii Juvenile Stakes re- i spectively. Strydom showed that .he I will be a leading trotter next 1 season when he won deci- ] sively after breaking and i more than doubling his ’ handicap of 20m. He joined 1 the rear of the bunch in the middle stages and received a j fortuitous run along the ; rails for the rest of the race. ! First Geena and then To- i moko Hest moved off the I rails in the run home and then the pacemaker, Moor- < bank Scottie, drifted out. i This allowed Murray Butt to 1 make rapid progress along ] the rails and Strydom did < not have to be asked for a 1 serious effort to win by. a length in the smart time ■ of ; 3min 29.6 s for the 2600 m “He’s usually pretty < steady once under way, but] he was quite ‘rocky’ early,” i said Murray Butt, who < trains the talented four-year- I

old for his wife, Jennifer. Strydom will probably have only one further start this season, in the W. R. Butt Handicap, a race for four-year-old trotters at the Canterbury Park meeting on June 6. “I’ll let Dad drive him in that race as it’s his last season of race driving. He won with him at Methven and there’s no reason why he couldn’t win again,” he chuckled. Strydom is bred to be good being by the doublegaited horse, Crockett, from FUis Park, a close relation two talented trotters in Dupreez and Geffin. General Link, at long odds, and Tokomo Hest chased Strydom home, with the favourite, Geena in last place after breaking when disappointed for a run inside the last 100 m. The Gore-owned Norton shoed ability above average to win the Juvenile Handicap. An unlucky fifth the previous Tuesday when having his first race start, he came from the tail of rhe field ati the .straight entrance

to win comfortably from the pacemaker, ■ Peregrin, and Trevallen after recording the splendid time of 2min 38.3 s for the 2000 m, a performance which elevated him high among the leading prospects in the $16,000 final of the Sires’ Produce Stakes on the course next Friday. The leaders broke 30s>for their last 400 m, so Norton must have bettered 29s for this section. Raced by Mr Maurice Anderson, of Gore, he is trained at Highbank by Pat O’Reilly. “He was sent to me as a trotter, a gait he apparently favoured when first put into work. He could trot a bit, but didn’t have a lot of speed, but it was different when I tried him in hopples,” said OReilly, whose son, Kerry, drove the gelding. - Norton is by a former champion juvenile in Tactile from Kate Quillan, an unraced half-sister by Yankee Express to' Kate’s Return. He is a half-brother to Royal Lodge, fifth to Stry-

; dom on Saturday. I The favourite, Boulder : Creek, became hopelessly placed inside the 600 m and was never in the open. He ■ finished a close eighth under ; a hold. i Southland owners had a : second win when Hannibal ; Hest came fast from the rear of the bunch to wear • down Most Likely Fella and beat him by a head in the Air Force Handicap. It was his first start since joining Derek Jone’s team about 10 days earlier. Kate’s Return, a slow beginner from 40m, was only a neck away, third, half a length in front of Senator Lea and the favourite; Kiltie Boy. Jones looked unlucky not to take a prominent part in the finish with Game One, which, broke about the 700 m when in tight quarters. She showed speed afterwards, even though she had only three behind her at the end. . Light Lord was backeddown to a win di vident of about $2.20 in the Aranui Handicap.

However that Was his share of proceedings. He received a beautiful run behind the pacemaker, Gikama Dee, but he was never able to get clear and finished under restraint in sixth place..

Gikama Dee held on well to beat Toshack, an early breaker, by half a length, with the same margin to a strong finisher in Vienna Charm.

Dundas gave Paul Young an .awkward drive in the early part of the Bexley Handicap, but he worked clear about the 1600 m and showed much ability to win by three-parts of a length from Heather Chief, with Chance Fortune flashing up to cut Armbrp Play out of third ■in the last stride. Dundas recorded 3min 23.2 s for 1 lie-2600m, showing that he, was capable of further rapid promotion through the classes.

As well as Dundas, MidCanterbury stables produced Dreamy Dragon, Betta Class and Lord Neutrino to win.