Horses-for-courses theory makes Hilarious Guest top Cup prospect

Press, 3 February 1984, Page 19

Horses-for-courses theory makes Hilarious Guest top Cup prospect

Special correspondent Auckland Hilarious Guest, a noted front runner, could not be better placed in the $lBO,OOO Auckland Trotting Cup at Alexandra Park this evening to go one better than she did in the race last year.

In the 1982 Cup, Hilarious Guest was second to Armalight, whose time of 3min 20.7 s still stands as a national record for 2700 metres from a mobile start.

She was decisively beaten by Armalight, but it was an outstanding performance for a four-year-old mare. Hilarious Guest will start from the No. 1 barrier position this evening. This is a distinct advantage at the 2700 m start, but on top of that some of the Rangiora visitor’s main rivals are awkwardly placed, indeed.

Our Mana and Delightful Lady will have the two outside positions in the front row and so seem sure to be very wide racing to the first bend: Rain Girl and Ben, regarded in many quarters as the chief local hopes, are in the second line. Hilarious Guest’s ownertrainer, Maurice Vermeulen, has rarely gone home empty-handed after racing his bonny mare at Alexandra Park. So much so, she

could rightly be regarded as an Alexandra Park special-

Among her successes have been the New Zealand Juvenile Championship and New Zealand Messenger.

On her last visit, in December, she was beaten a nose by Our Mana in the Castlemaine Handicap and second to Rain Girl in the Harvey Furnishings Stakes. Hilarious Guest has started twice since, at Addington last month. Both times, she made the pace and finished second (beaten a length by Bonnie’s Chance) and third (beaten a nose and a head). Vermeulen is very pleased with her condition and, from any angle, she looks the one to beat.

The field though, is probably the strongest for years. The withdrawal of the Australian star, Gammalite, is unfortunate but nevertheless all the best pacers in New Zealand are engaged. Foremost among them, of course, is Delightful Lady,

Bob Cameron, the Ashburton reinsman, who will drive “The Press” selection, Hilarious Guest, in the $lBO,OOO Auckland Trotting Cup

long the idol of Alexandra Park crowds and which has won more in stake-money, $447,105, than any other New Zealand standardbred which has raced here and/ or in Australia.

Gary Hillier, her trainer, is confident she will go a fine race. “She is as good as I’ve ever had her,” he says simply. Delightful Lady won the race in 1980 and 1981. Six other horses have also scored twice but none has won three times. Success would also give her the distinction of equalling Lordship’s record number of wins, 45, by a standardbred in New Zealand.

While Delightful lady undoubtedly will be the sentimental favourite, she faces a formidable assignment. Bad draw apart, she is 10 years old and there must be a suspicion she is not quite as good as she was. In spite of his awkward draw, Our Mana looks sure to give a splendid account of himself.

The five-year-old gelding by Schell Hanover and Taimoni has the remarkably good record of 12 wins, two seconds and two thirds in only 22 starts. He was in grea form at the New Zealand Messenger

meeting in December, when he won the Castlemaine Handicap and Benson and Hedges Flying Mile and finished an unlucky fourth in the Harvey Furnishings Stakes. Our Mana has not raced since but he showed his fitness when he performed brilliantly at a trials meeting at Motukarara earlier in

the week. Derby is another which has had a meteoric rise. From a total of only 16 starts, he has had 11 wins, two seconds, and a third. Enterprise will come in for solid support, if only because he will be driven by Peter Wolfenden. Wolfenden will be trying for his sixth Cup win: Noone else has had more than four wins. Enterprise has some pretty useful form to his credit lately and he must be respected. Others bound to be well backed include Hands Down, Rain Girl, and the ultra-consistent Pukekohe five-year-old Ben.

Hands Down was third last year. He won impressively in the DB Waikato Trotting Cup at Claudelands on January 20 and has since made fine progress, according to his trainer, Ted Hooper.