Final draw favours Sir Castleton

Press, 18 February 1984, Page 31

Final draw favours Sir Castleton

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney The crack New Zealand trotter, Sir Castleton, has drawn the dream No. 1 position for the final of the Inter Dominion Trotting Championships at Adelaide tonight. And better still for the New Zealand camp, his arch-rival and titleholder, Scotch Notch, has drawn right in behind him in barrier No. 8 — against the rails on the second row — for the 3100 m event at Globe Derby Park. But the New Zealand horse’s trainer, Mawson McPherson, has reservations about the draw, based on the state of the track.

“I’m happy as long as they firm the track up on the inside,” he said. “It’s gone soft near the rail and I’d like to see them roll it or something to make it harder.”

With the news of the draw, McPherson was preparing to get together with driver, Paddy Timmins, to work out tactics for the race.

“Everyone will be watching everyone else, but our fellow can race in any position so to an extent we’ll work out our own race,” he said.

The other New Zealander in the race is the pocketsized mare, Tussle, which for the first time in the series has drawn a position on the front row. But driver, Peter Jones, said last night it could not have been worse.'

She goes from sixth position, the extreme outside, and Jones, who is the son of trainer, Derek Jones, said the wide draw meant the mare would have to work hard early to get a good place or work hard late to catch the others.

If there is a scratching, the first emergency, Arcness, will come in at barrier No. 1 putting Tussle once more on to the back row, this time against the rails. “In fact I would prefer to be there because going from the outside has too many disadvantages,” Peter Jones said.

“I don’t really think we could have got anything worse. I would have loved to have had one to four because we could have led them from there. “Tussle has excellent ability from a mobile. She gets away very well and could have got a good run. Now it depends on what Sir Castleton does.

“The wide draw is a disadvantage on this track. “If we want to go to the front we will need to sprint early, but then you want to have a breather part way through and on this track you don’t get the chance to do that.

“If you settle near the back early you have to go hard to get around them later.”

However, Jones said the little mare at last seemed to be settling down after her trip and was eating normally.

She showed that in her racing on Wednesday night by making up the most ground to come home third behind Sir Castleton, and despite the fact that the pace was not a frantic one, Jones was satisfied with the performance. “She’s still not running as well as she could but she shouldn’t be far off for the final” Jones said.

Of the pacing trio, Our Mana and Mai Mai have the best draws for the 3100 m final heats of their series tonight, drawing No. 1 and No. 4 respectively, while Enterprise will go from two out on the second row in his heat.

Our Mana is the third of the New Zealanders to come up against the Inter Dominion pacing champion and million-dollar earner, Gammalite, which will go from barrier No. 3, with the tough Willadios in No. 4 and Guv’s Pride with the worst of the draws, No. 10.

Mai Mai, so brilliant in his all-the-way win on Wednesday night, has barrier four in his heat. His main rivals should be Black Irish and Out for Glory.

Enterprise has the worst of the draws in his bid to

stage a last-minute charge into the final. The Auckland Cup winner will probably have to win to have any chance of making the 10-horse final field. After his third behind Gammalite orr Wednesday he has only 12 points with 16 horses in front of him. Eleven points from the 3100 m heat tonight would probably take him just inside the cut-off point. The 3100 m is his favourite distance, but he has drawn No. 2 on the second row and is opposed by Gap Road, Thor Lobell, Bundanoon and The Rattler. Those Australian horses have drawn Nos. 1,2, 4 and 6 respectively. Jbt: 10 Tab: FW

Race 1 10.05 INTER-DOMINION TROTTERS' CONSOLATION mobile; 3100 m

Race 2 10.35 T.A.B. QUINELLA INTER-DOMINION PACERS’ HEAT NINE mobile; 3100 m

Race 3 11.05 T.A.B. QUINELLA INTER-DOMINION PACERS’

HEAT 10 mobile; 3100 m

Race 4 12.20 T.A.B. TRIFECTA T.A.B. QUINELLA INTER-DOMINION TROTTERS’ GRAND FINAL mobile; 3100 m

Race 5 1.30 T.A.B. QUINELLA

1 677 Jenny Bear 1 It I. Smith 2 675 Honey John 2 L. Harding It 3 556 Arcness 3 R. Sugars it 4 688 Coasting Time 4 R. White It 5 807 Mini Trick 5 J. Barrowcliff It 6 508 Bravado Vale 6 F. Hoban It

1 113 Gap Road 1 F. Kersley It 2 805 Glenleigh Hanover 2 K. Barber It 3 464 Distant Thunder 3 V. Knight It 4 051 Mai Mai 4 H. Timmins It 5 644 Tuapeka Star 5 G. Morgan It 6 495 Smooth Dave 6 C. Olsen It 7 183 New Derwent 7 G. Webster It 8 212 Black Irish 8 C. Lewis It 9 634 Out For Glory 9 B. Hancock It 10 171 Otani 10 J. Hurley It

1 485 Carlite 1 It T. Kelly

2 123 Thor Lobell 2 V. Knight It 3 374 Fearless Quick 3 P. Morgan It 4 191 The Rattler 4 J. Hurley It 5 565 Society Guy 5 D. Crowhurst It 6 112 Bundanoon 6 B. Hancock It 7 551 Not Before Time 7 R. Adams It 8 173 Enterprise 8 C. de Filippi It 9 835 Smithdale Lad 9 W. Kersley It

1 556 Arcness 1 R. Sugars It 2 411 Sir Castleton 2 H. Timmins It 3 722 Another Touch 3 J. Hurley It 4 344 Joanie Toliver 4 N. Welsh It 5 134 Yankee’s Purcsae 5 R. Goble It 6 933 Sadie .Gale 6 T. Demmler It 7 243 Tussle 7 P. Jones It 8 675 Honey John 8 L. Harding It 9 211 Scotch Notch 9 G. Lang It 10 622 Big Jake 10 B. Gath It 11 856 Big General 11 L. Plummer It 12 065 Downsouth Clare 12 I. Lee It Emergencies: Arcness, Honey John.

INTER-DOMINION PACERS’ HEAT 11 mobile; 3100m 1 242 Our Mana 1 C. de Filippi It 2 459 Nicobar 2 G. Webster It 3 121 Gammalite 3 B. Clarke It 4 132 Willadios 4 B. Hancock It 5 256 Lobellent 5 H. McDermott it 6 284 Bararata 6 S. Allen It 7 166 King Toliver 7 B. Forrester It 8 406 Disco Danny 8 R. Sugars It 9 276 Kallawarra King 9 R. Winen It 10 122 Guv’s Pride 10 J. Hurley It