Great Easter should suit Atrapar

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 33

Great Easter should suit Atrapar

By

J. J. BOYLE

The talented Levintrained Atrapar will bring much North Island interest to bear on the Great Easter Handicap, the T.A.B. trifecta race and first leg of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s T.A.B. double tomorrow. Atrapar was brought south at the week-end after a placed run at the Feilding meeting and as the mount of the in-form jockey, Gary Phillips, he will pose problems for the best of the South Islanders in the field. Atrapar, which is trained at Levin by Bill Calder, will

be racing over his best distance of 1400 m tomorrow. He won over that distance at Trentham last December, and again at Marton in January. When he returned to Trentham in January he finished third in strong company in the Wrightson Handicap. The best of Atrapar’s South Island rivals will probably be King Kaka, Gaffa, and Upper Cut. King Kaka won in style against the sprinters at Rangiora last week and Gaffa was a winner on that course in race trials a day later.

Upper Cut has not made the grade in his few assays at a middle distance, but he has a sprinting talent, and should take beating if he can capitalise on one of the inside barrier positions. As an impressive winner with storming finishes over shorter trips in his last two races, Lucifer Lad will be one of the most respected of the runners in the Stallion Services Handicap, second leg of the T.A.B. double. He has 53kg, and is 3kg below Samplet, which will be attempting to improve the powerful record of the

Paddy Busuttin stable at the meeting. A second win for the meeting appears to be well within reach of Lady Gemma in the Shirley Handicap, third leg of the T.A.B. treble. Lady Gemma’s stablemate, Kaierau Prince, should be one of the hardest to beat in The Sockburn, first leg of the treble. Royal Sceptre, a newcomer at the meeting, but an impressive recent winner for the Pat Corboy stable, might come out on top in the Gimcrack Handicap, second leg of the treble.