Pronto King well placed for Brabazon victory

Press, 27 July 1984, Page 10

Pronto King well placed for Brabazon victory

By

J. J. BOYLE

Pronto King has the youthful talent to win the Ashley Meats Brabazon Handicap, second leg of the T.A.B. double and the T.A.B. trifecta race at the Christchurch Hunt’s meeting at Riccarton tomorrow.

One of two three year olds in the field, Pronto King is this season’s Dunedin Guineas winner and his weight of 52.5 kg, which is 3.5 kg below weight-for-age, will certainly not place any heavy demands on his burgeoning talent. Pronto King showed his powers on a heavy track in the Dunedin Guineas, winning by five lengths. Set a more formidable challenge on different footing in the New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas in November, he ran a respectable fourth. This time up he has had three starts, and improved with each of them, for a

second behind Soaring High over 1400 m at the Otago winter meeting and a win over 1600 m at Ashburton. Queen’s Pal is top weight with 57.5 kg and will start drom the outside in a capacity field, but she has the physique, the courage, and the class to meet daunting demands. She was luckless on her campaign at the Waikato meeting in May, and lost no stature when she had victory snatched away from her by Super Dude in the Otago Racing Club’s Wrightson on June 2. After another second, in the middle distance Birth-

day Handicap, she was freshened, and she should sprint with the best of them tomorrow. Seafarer put some gloss on his Brabazon prospects when he overcame an early setback to win over 1600 m at Washdyke last week. A year ago Seafarer ran third some seven lengths behind Dreamville in the Brabazon. In the meantime Dreamville has won twice and Seafarer once. In the Glen is a Riccar-ton-trained five year old with a talent for 1400 m and 1600 m on yielding tracks, and well capable of improving on her fourth behind Seafarer at Washdyke. Jendra, another five year old, running on her home track, does not have recent form credentials, but she was really firing about this time last year, starting the present season by winning the Amalgamated Packaging Handicap and following up with a fourth in the Winter Cup. Jendra will be ridden by John Dowling, who also partnered her when she won the weight-for-age Miss Scenicland Stakes at Hokitika last November. Soaring High might have the odds against him from his position closest to Queen’s Pal in the weights, but he is a doughty performer at 1400 m when he comes to form, and he won in style over that distance at the Otago winter meeting, beating Pronto King, Hills Peak, Cee Low, Seafarer and eight others. Soaring High is a stablemate of General Beaufort, one of the top fancies for the Super Liquorman Camla

Handicap, first leg of tomorrow’s T.A.B. double. General Beaufort won impressively at Riccarton in May, and has since won again on his home track. His best performances have been marked by the power of his finishing runs, and he should be hard to match at the end of 1400 m tomorrow. Equally attractive prospects, for many, will be the Riccarton pair Our Rob and Reingard. Our Rob has done his recent racing against class 1 performers, and some regard should be held for his second to Pronto King at Ashburton in June.

Reingard won a class 4 1410 m race on the same programme with a memorable display of finishing speed to come from what appeared to be an impossible position in the last 600 m. There is an abundance of form elsewhere as well in this capacity field and Dublin Bay, Courier Flight, Mighty Million, Ariage, Rattle the Sabre, Sir Fox, and Monarch Flight will all come in for solid backing.