McGinty should handle 2000m at Ellerslie

Press, 25 February 1983, Page 26

McGinty should handle 2000m at Ellerslie

Special correspondent Auckland . McGinty could not face a much tougher field for his first try further than 1600 metres, but even against such an array of older horses, he will be a warm favourite to win again at Ellerslie tomorrow. Safely through this one, the 2000 metres Air New Zealand Stakes, he will be flown to Sydney next Wednesday along with two others of tomorrow's runners. Fountaincourt and Ringtrue. Fountaincourt, a Trentham four-year-old gelding and winner of the DB Auckland Cup not quite two months ago, is another which helps add such lustre to the big race at Ellerslie and Ringtrue, a stablemate of McGinty, is in a lesser 1600 metres.

McGinty has won eight of

his 10 races, beaten only in the Eclipse Stakes, at this meeting last year, and in the Railway Handicap in the last Auckland Cup meeting. Since the Railway he has added the Wellington Stakes and Trentham's George Adams Handicap to his tally of wins so he is going, now, for a hattrick. As the only three-year-old, McGinty is to receive weight all round, from 3.5 kg to as much as 6kg and he has a reasonably good barrer position as well, just inside midfield. Fountaincourt, which in only his second race at Ellerslie handled the course so capably to win the cup, looks a prospect to be in the money and Jon and Super Tai, four-year-old geldings also, are others with impressive credentials. A group of well-performed

mares — Daisy, The Dimple, Bellerephon. Bound to Honour and Maurita — add further strength to the field. Maurita might well be the hardest for McGinty to beat. With luck she would have won the DB Auckland Cup and it was only a matter of inches when she went under to Kiwi in the big one at Trentham. Maurita is a genuine stayer, as are several of the others against McGinty. It is hard to believe, though, that they will muster sufficient pace to trouble their three-year-old rival. While the Air New Zealand Stakes dominates tomorrow's programme, much attention will be given the Eclipse Stakes, the Orient Handicap and the See America Handicap, for which Ringtrue is an acceptor. All seem very open.