David Peake at best with Trentham hat-trick

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 23

David Peake at best with Trentham hat-trick

By

J. J. BOYLE

“I’ve done it before, but I always welcome an encore,” the Takanini jockey, David Peake, said with a grin after a notable hat-trick at Trentham on Saturday.

Two of Peake’s three winners were Zim Zam and Shifnal Prince, which landed the T.A.B. double. The one in the middle was the strong favourite. Gold Lomond, which, like Shifnal Prince, was running for the Cambridge stable of John Winder. Shifnal Prince was completing a memorable meeting for his Auckland owners, Messrs Carl O’Grady and Con Reynolds, in winning the 560,000 Jarden Mile on Saturday. He won the Anniversary Handicap on Wellington Cup day, and that victory assured him of a start in Saturday’s valuable metric mile. Shifnal Prince’s trainer entered racing as junior partner to Jack Winder, and has guided the destinies of the stable since the death of his father. Gold Lomond, which nlaced some demands on

Peake’s skills with a horse inclined to run about before he won on Saturday, races for the estate of the late Jack Winder. Peake rode Shifnal Prince from far back in a big field on Saturday, steering him through gaps to land him in a contending position at about midway point in the straight. The four-year-old Shifnal gelding had the situation safely in hand by the time Manchu arrived with a late charge. Manchu, at long odds, came from the tail end group for second ahead of Camille, another of the lesser fancies. Camille’s performance to finish third was perhaps the best of the race. She had to be switched across at least five rivals from the outside in a bid to find racing room in the straight. For a time she was held up behind Clear Gold, which

had also run out of racing room. Shifnal Prince earned $39,600 in a shade over Imin 35s with his win on Saturday and the victory could have clinched a Sydney autumn campaign, with the A.J.C. Doncaster Handicap the main target. Clear Gold could also be

m Sydney at Easter, rtis failure to reach the money on Saturday did not reflect any loss of form; he met traffic problems at a late stage of the race, and Chris McNab was unsuccessful in his efforts to get the big bay into the clear. Ringtrue, the hope of the powerful Jillings stable, finished close behind Clear Gold about the middle of the field, picking up a few positions after settling well back early. The Riccarton-trained Clansman looked ready for anything before the race, galloped with encouraging keenness forward of the middle of the field, was pushed wide behind an off line Idle Fancy near the 600 m, then struggled and tired. “He was a bit fresh when he ran on the first day of the meeting, and that run might have taken the edge off him,” Clansman’s

rider, Ali Robinson, commented. The form followers found little to enthuse over from the outcome of the Terrage Regency Handicap, first leg of the T.A.B. double. The each-way favourite Elmar was virtually knocked out of the race in a crowding incident near the 800 m. Then Shazam, the third choice, was nosed out of victory by the long shot, Zim Zam, which had been unplaced in Shazaam’s Ashhurst Cup five days earlier. Miss Louise Sanders, part-owner and trainer of Zim Zam, came on to Trentham after the Ashhurst meeting, with Fontanella as a form runner for the final day of the Wellington Cup meeting. Fontanella won at Ashhurst and ran up to that form by beating all but Gold Lomond at Trentham on Saturday.