Fast times at Ellerslie

Press, 1 June 1981, Page 17

Fast times at Ellerslie

From J. J- BOYLE Auckland Ellerslie is usually a place f ‘mudlarks” on at Auck-J | d -Racing’ Club • GreatI Ahern carnivals. - Not soj ■ ■ • ' | 'Count Ajax won the : f . >0 Members’ Handicap 2nd I I of t”? Auc*t!*md Imciagi ( T$ TAB. doub'-e on Sat-, t he hurried over the J non a firm well-grassed ♦ --k in I’-an 10.755. •old Hope took longer (’ min 10-S7s) when she won t : $lO,OOO Railway' Hanaib ■> oyer the same course o.i January I.

The track record for 1200 m at Ellerslie is Imin. 9.45. Count Ajax’s win on Saturday was his third from his lastfour starts'from the Takanini stable of Colin Jillings. who returned to Auckland last week after spending a holiday in the South Island. Count Ajax, a brown colt by Bismark II from Princess Patine, was ridden by the stable, apprentice Craig Cossill, Who was able to claim, a 3kg allowance. Cossill soon had Count Ajax trailing and brought him 'home for a decisive win over

Divine Poem and Prior’s Luck. David Peake, who rode Divine Poem, had better fortune earlier. He was'Reading’s successful partner in the Carbine Club Stakes, first leg of the T.A.B. double.

Reading is by Philoctetes from Honey Light, a Callander mare bred in Southland by the late Mr Bill Hazlett and dam of some versatile winners, including Glandovey. Twelve months ago Read? ing was so sick that his owners, Messrs Graham Brindle and Wally Potts, were prepared for the worst. “It was

touch and go for a while,” Mr Potts said on Saturday. Earlier last year Reading had finished third to Blue Denim and Magistrate in the Auckland Cup but he received a leg injury in the big Ellerslie race and had to miss the Wellington Cup and other big summer and autumn races. Then just when he recovered from the injury he went down with a bad virus. Next for Reading is the $20,000 Cornwall Handicap on the third day of the meeting next Saturday. At this distance he appeals as the likely winner.