Belfe up 2kg in Cup for first-day victory

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 43

Belfe up 2kg in Cup for first-day victory

By

J. J. BOYLE

The imported Belfe was rehandicapped 2kg for the New Zealand Cup after her nose victory in the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Benson and Hedges Gold Cup at Riccarton on Saturday.

Belle’s Foxton trainer, Paddy Busuttin, said yesterday he had been anticipating I.skg as a reasonable penalty for next Saturday’s race, but something more encouraging for him was the way his stayer came through Saturday’s $31,000, 2500 m race. Belfe won under 50.5 in the skilled hands of Gary Phillips on Saturday. She will now carry 51kg in the New Zealand Cup. Belfe bears the internationally famous colours of Mr Robert Sangster, who races the mare in partnership with Peter and Phil Vela, of Hamilton, and Mr T. A. Krishnan. Mr Krishnan is also one of the partners in Affinity, one of the top chances in

the Melbourne Cup tomorrow. Paddy Busuttin has never met Mr Sangster, but the pools millionaire might bypass the final day of the Victoria Racing Club’s carnival and come to Riccarton for the New Zealand Cup if Belfe completes her Cup preparation to the satisfaction of her trainer. Belfe, whose two wins in England were at 3300 m and 2900 m, had to employ all her stamina to snatch a last-stride nose victory over Our Boyfriend on Saturday. Manchu and Sirtain completed the rout of the South Island stayers by filling third and fourth places, but that pattern might have been upset if Riccarton’s

Reingard (fifth) had dodged trouble early in the run home. Belfe gave the Busuttin stable and Gary Phillips the second of three wins on Saturday. The well-established, successful combination clicked at the first time of asking on Saturday with the two-year-old Sierra Sand in the Beaufort Sea Handicap, and bowed out successfully with Clackamas in the Lion Brown “1600,” the last race on the programme. Clackamas and Phillips will team up again in the Members’ Handicap on Wednesday, and top weight of 58kg might not stop the Bellissimo gelding winning his second race for the meeting.

The Busuttin stable’s hopeful for the Churchill Stakes is Page Boy, a past winner on the course, but he, like the others, seems likely to have to bow to Commissionaire. Noel Harris, who will ride Commissionaire, has Kingdom Bay as his mount for the New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas, and the search for the favourite for the classic could have ended after the Taranaki colt slammed his sprint rivals in the Edward Lumley Handicap on the first day of the meeting. Kingdom Bay was an odds-on favourite, was last of the 12 runners early, but ran up comfortably to win by half a length, but with much in hand.