Galway Prince favoured today

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 28

Galway Prince favoured today

NZPA Sydney The unheralded New Zealand visitor, Galway Prince, is poised to end the reign of the champion Australian three-year-old, Sir Dapper, in their return clash in the $120,000 Spring Champion Stakes at Warwick Farm today. Galway Prince has proved he can stay, with a solid finish at Rosehill last week over 1900 m and a win in his previous start over 2000 m at Avondale, but Sir Dapper was almost done last week, and has yet to race further.

Galway Prince stunned racegoers last week when he stormed down the outside after trying twice in the straight to get inside or between Sir Dapper and Regal Advice in the Gloaming Stakes, and missed out on the win by a nose. His trainer, Bruce Wallace, said yesterday that he and the jockey, Brian York, were determined the same would not happen again today. Some pundits were writing Galway Prince off after he was comprehensively beaten in a mid-week barrier trial by Sir Dapper, which scorched away by five lengths to cover the

1200 m in Imin 12.85, the last 200 m in a blistering 11.255. Galway Prince was third home six lengths behind the flying Vain colt, but Wallace was not perturbed. “It was an exceptional trial by Sir Dapper and a good trial by Galway Prince, but you can’t compare the two on that. Sir Dapper is a sprinter and Galway Prince is a stayer,” he said. The Harbor Prince three-year-old has had nine starts for two wins and five placings, and the pace today will decide whether he will add the big one to his tally. Today’s race will be run over 2100 m. If Randwick racecourse had been ready, as it should have been after a winter of repair work, the race would have been run there over 2000 m.

When Sir Dapper squeaked home last week, his trainer, Les Bridge, was set to call it a day with distance racing, but the jockey, Ron Quinton, pointed out that the track was slow, and predicted that on a dry surface the colt could manage the extra distance. Sir Dapper’s connections had the lure of a $lOO,OOO bonus if he could pull off the spring treble.