Tough task for Sweeney Todd
By
W. R. CARSTON
With the exception of the Grand National Steeplechase, in which Charlestown ran out a decisive winner, Grand National Steeplechase Day 12 months ago was a "boomer" for South Island jumpers.
Wingatui's Layby kicked the day off right for the south with a victory in the Enfield Steeples, the Inver-cargill-trained Charlson earned the thick end of the stake in the Trial Hurdles and Riverton’s Miracle Jack made short work of his rivals in the Sydenham Hurdles.
The south might not have one as versatile or talented as the ill-fated Miracle Jack in any of the corresponding events today but most will expect Sweeney Todd to give another good account of himself in the first leg of the Canterbury Jockey Club's T.A.B treble.
Sweeney Todd, a prettyuseful open handicapper on his. day when racing on the flat, stands out on form of the three southerners engaged in today's Sydenham Hurdles.
In five starts since being switched to a jumping career in June the Washdyke-
trained eight-year-old has assembled a record of two seconds and three consecutive wins in this new role.
This will be SweeneyTodd’s toughest test. If he managed to extend his winning record, or even go close, against some talented northerners in today’s field it will bring him strongly into reckoning for the $16:000 Grand National Hurdles next Friday.
Paul’s Boy and Black Frost are two of the obvious chances North Island trainers will saddle and weight of off-course money could also put Sebastiano and Young Jeff high on the list of popular fancies. Paul's. Boy and Black Frost both go into today's field as last-starter winners. The former was successful against the highweighters at Te Rapa last Wednesday week following minor placings among the open hurdlers at Avondale and Trentham.
Black Frost will be trying to take his winning sequence to three. He beat the lower grade hurdlers at Wanganui early last month then stepped up to win in the higher grade at Levin last time out.
Although Young Jeff has
done much of his racing this winter as a “chaser" as a member of the powerful Robinson stable at Matangi he is sure to have a big following,' expecially with a substantial relief from the weights he has been carrying in his recent endeavours over country. Sebastiano will be the mount of Stephen Jenkins, last season’s top rider of jumpers. This combination has already been successful in three hurdle races this winter, the most recent of those being the Awapuni Hurdles in June. Patrons are likely to have a wide range of selections in the second'-and third legs of the T.A.B. treble, the Paparua and Farewell Handicaps.
The major attraction today will be the 108th running of the Grand National Steeplechase. Although it is hard to predict which might be outright favourite if the result follows betting trends the battle for honours should be between Grey Warbler and Sugarmugundi, from the north, and Bymai and Off an' On, which appear to be the South Island's brightest hopes. The Grand National Steeplechase is the first leg of the T.A.B. double. Jambeau, from Cambridge, looks assured of favouritism for the second leg, the International Harvester Winter Cup, but in a capacity field of talented metric-milers victory could well go to anyone of a dozen in the $26,000 event.
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Press, 7 August 1982, Page 17
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557Tough task for Sweeney Todd Press, 7 August 1982, Page 17
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