Delightful Lady can win Cup for third time

Press, 12 February 1982, Page 22 (Supplement)

Delightful Lady can win Cup for third time

Special correspondent Auckland Delightful Lady can do it again. She seems as good as ever and, with her favourable barrier draw in the capacity field, she must have a royal chance of completing a hat-trick of wins in the $120,000 Auckland Trotting Cup at Alexandra Park this evening. Her prospects look especially rosy with most of her main rivals drawing so badly. Bonnie’s Chance, stylish winner of the Chardon Handicap on the first night of the meeting, and generally regarded as “the Lady’s” chief threat, is at No. 16; Gammalite, from Australia, is also in the second row, as are John Tudor and Hands Down. From No. 4, Delightful Lady will have every chance of taking up a handy position from the start. She has done everything right in training since she ran an outstanding race to finish fifth in the Chardon Handicap, according to her trainer-driver, Gary Hillier. She added considerably to her handicap of 20m in that race; early on, she must have been at least 60m behind the leaders. “She is as good as ever she has been since I had had her,” Hillier says. It will be the first drive in the Cup for Hillier, who took over the training and driving of Delightful Lady last November. Now eight years old, she has been in the stable of the Pukekohe trainer, Michael Stormont, since she was a yearling. When she won last year, Delightful Lady ran the 2700 m from a mobile start in a remarkable 3min 22.95. This broke her own national record, set in the Cup the previous year, by a staggering 2.25. Such is the strength of tonight’s field, the pace looks sure to be hectic again. The line-up is generally regarded as the best for a major race in New Zealand for years. In spite of his awkward draw, Gammalite looks sure to be a tough proposition. He has won more races than any other in the field, 45, and also the most stakemoney, $381,958. Delightful Lady, easily the best-performed pacer in New Zealand, has had 37 wins and her earnings are $355,480. Gammalite is a rugged customer, as he showed when

he was campaigned at the New Zealand Cup meeting at Addington last November. He went consistently well in his three attempts, in the last of which he was the only one to make a race of it with Lord Module when the unpredictable Christchurch stallion went a New Zealand record of 3min 16s for 2600 m. Gammalite is reputedly able to race anywhere in a field and he showed by a decisive win at Moonee Valley last Saturday that he was in top form. Bonnie’s Chance will probably dispute favouritism with Delightful Lady. The Timaru six-year-old has won her last four races on end and she gained many supporters for the Cup when she scored easily in the Char-, don Handicap last Saturday. Bonnie’s Chance probably has a shade more brilliance at this stage than Delightful Lady and her gallant second to Armalight in last year’s New Zealand Cup proved she was not lacking in stamina. But whether she can give Delightful Lady a startbeing in the second row, that is what it amounts to—is doubtful. Delightful Lady has won 27 races at Alexandra Park, and has been virtually unbeatable under free-for-all conditions. Bonnie’s Chance also scored on the first night last year, only to fail badly in the big event. But no notice need be taken of that performance; she was decidedly off colour, through, it is believed having contracted a virus. While pre-post discussions have centred mainly on Delightful Lady, Gammalite and Bonnie’s Chance, some of the others have their share of supporters, notably Hands Down, John Tudor, Quiet Win and Greg Robinson. Hands Down has raced three times at Alexandra Park and on each occasion he has performed poorly. But he still ranks as one of the country’s top stayers and if he does everything right for a change he could be very hard to beat. John Tudor has given some outstanding showings at the Park and Greg Robinson, Peter Wolfenden’s drive, is a hardy old campaigner always in with a chance. Quiet Win, from Christchurch, was a creditable second in the Chardon Handicap and he did a fine Cup trial when he beat El Regale and Hands Down in fast time for 3200 m at Alexandra Park last Tuesday. El Regale also shaped very well in that workout and, although he has drawn badly, he could be a surprise packet. His trainer, George Noble aged 81, is seeking his third win in the race. He scored with Highland Air in 1957 and Garcon Roux in 1971. The race will start at 8.15 p.m. and will be shown live on TVI.

Race 5 7.35 T.A.B. TREBLE CARDINAL GARRISON RESTRICTED FREE-FOR-ALL $5130; C 4 and C 5; 2200 m 1 1105 Sugar Ray Robinson 1 It 2 7314 Potranca 2 It 3 3800 Dustover 3 It 4 3127 Empire Knight 4 It 5 2100 Hurricane Chief 5 It 6 9089 Avalon 6 It 7 5211 Peter Foyle 7 It 8 4095 Glencarron 8 It 9 1206 Kiwi Lord 9 It 10 7010 Masterman 10 It 11 5090 Justmat 11 It 12 1182 How About That 12 It 13 5288 Riverside Hal 13 It 14 8706 Maruadell 14 It 15 5410 Life Time UR It Emergency: Avalon. Race 7 8.50 T.A.B. TREBLE ALLAKASAM ■ RESTRICTED-FREE-FOR-ALL $5130; C 4 and C 5; mobile; 2200 m 1 7210 Out To Dream 1 It 2 7870 Jacron 2 It 3 7400 Kane 3 It 4 9443 Lord Tudor 4 It 5 0640 Breconshire 5 It 6 7016 Parisian Glory 6 ■ It 7 4 Mischief Maker 7 It 8 3251 Hi Perfection 8 It 9 5230 Skipper’s Reign 9 It 10 3739 Shadow Lord 10 It 11 4850 Miss Ghana 11 It 12 6678 True Bay 12 It 13 2959 Lanark 13 It 14 6941 Shenandoah 14 It 15 3143 Gaining Star UR It Emergency: Kane. Race 8 9.30 T.A.B. DOUBLE DANDY BRIAR TROT $6550; OC; 2200 m 1 0215 Via Volare 1 It Ran on well on first night off 10m. Better placed here and must have good chance. P. Leek. 2 0000 Dione Hanover 2 It Out of form for long time. No appeal. J. Cole. 3 5280 Alison Command 3 It Finished well back on first night, after breaking early. Much improvement needed. A. Dunsmuir. 4 8402 Thriller Dee 4 It Ran on gamely .on first night when having first race for three months. Should be improved and looks one of the best prospects. P. Wolfenden. 5 2447 Smart Aleck 5 It Faded after being parked out on first, night. Seldom far away and should be prominent again. B. Purdon. 6 7273 Sam Evander 6 It Ran on well on first night. Has good record this season and must be strongly considered. G. Reaks. 7 5067 Bellabill 7 It Never really likely on first night. Finding it hard in thiQ pluqq 8 5850 Pardon My Dust 8 It Finished last on first night. Too long off winning list to be given much chance. C. Butler. 9 1938 Bretway 9 It No chance on first night after breaking early. Has plenty of ability but far from reliable. J. Langdon. 10 3424 Red Poplar 10 It Another good race on first night. Should go well again. A. Perucich. 11 6606 Our Evander 11 It Fair effort on first night. Not getting any younger. D. Gibbons. 12 3421 Jenner 12 It Stylish win on first night. In spite of awkward draw, looks the one to beat. C. Hunter. 13 0090 Tennessee Prince 13 It Well back at Alexandra Park on December 30. Hard to fancy. 14 0699 Davey's Jill 14 It No show on first night after breaking early. Form this season disappointing. Race 10 10.40 T.A.B. TREBLE T.A.B. QUINELLA WAITAKI HANOVER HANDICAP $5875; C 6; 3200 m 1 0607 Royal Blaze 1 It 2 2213 Silverstone 2 It 3 4323 Avon Spark 3 It 4 Ao Marama 4 It 5 2700 Eladeroom UR 1 It 6 9000 Frosty Lopez UR 2 It 7 3600 Johnny Mac 1 10 8 2724 Mancaboy 2 10 9 3507 Country Star 3 10 10 6013 Sprinkler 4 10 11 4401 Captain Smooth UR 10