Bounty Hawk leading fancy in Cap

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 47

Bounty Hawk leading fancy in Cap

From

Allan Brown

Melbourne If the opinions of racing tipsters throughout Australia are to count for much Bounty Hawk and Affinity will dispute the finish of the Melbourne Cup at Fleming-, ton this afternoon. The two horses, Bounty Hawk trained by Bart Cummings, Affinity by Jim Moloney, continue to dominate discussions on the big race. The more so since Kiwi, yesterday morning, was barred from taking his place in the field, by official veterinary stewards. They are among 14 New Zealand-bred horses expected to go to the post. Four of the others — Fountaincourt, Secured Deposit, Beaver Boy and Rose and Thistle — are owned in New Zealand as well.

Admiral Blair, a gelding

brought from Canterbury for the race is now unlikely to start, having just lately been set back by soreness. Another of the original declarations, Colonial Flag, was withdrawn following his pulling up lame from the L. K. S. Mackinnon stakes last Saturday. Bounty Hawk looked to have the makings of a Melbourne Cup winner when he won the Victoria Derby last year. Affinity, a year older, first showed his staying talent last autumn,, with a succession of good races over 2400 and 2500 m. Affinity finished his racing of last season with a good second over 3200 metres, behind Moss Kingdom in the Adelaide Cup. It was with the idea of his being brought back for the next Melbourne Cup that he was then rested. These past few weeks Affinity has done everything right. He was not rated highly by Moloney and his stable’s rider, Pat Hyland, for the 2400 m Caulfield Cup on October 20, for this one they are as confident as anyone could be. Moloney, a Melbourne trainer of long experience, was inclined to consider Affinity might need his race in the Caulfield Cup. Not given to extravagant comment, he said yesterday that he thought, “given the breaks,” Affinity would win again this afternoon. The horse, Moloney said, had had an uninterrupted preparation and was “spot on.” Bounty Hawk, since back for this season after being let up at the end of last autumn, had had two wins from six starts. It was typical having a mind that Cummings trains him, when he came up with his best showing this time in, right on the eve of the Cup, in last Saturday’s Mackinnon Stakes. Nobody knows more about preparing a Melbourne Cup runner than Cummings, who is trying for his eighth win in the race. After watching Bounty Hawk stride through an

easy 1600 m at Flemington yesterday the trainer expressed great hopes for the horse. So did Hany White, who rode the track gallop and will be on Bounty Hawk in the Cup. White has won four Melbourne Cups and says he has never approached the race more confident of winning. Bounty Hawk is owned by Mr Jack Atkins, proprietor of Middlepark Stud, Cambridge, now living in Sydney, and Mrs Atkins, Affinity by a group of Melbourne businessmen. Bounty Hawk was bred at Middlepark, by Balmerino from an imported English mare, Marie’s Daughter, and Affinity’s by Zamazaan from another English importation, Geraniums Red. Though all four have come through their prepartions satisfactorily, Fountaincourt Secured Deposit, Beaver Boy and Rose and Thistle are not rated high in the Cup possibilities. While Affinity and Bounty Hawk were being quoted yesterday by bookmakers at odds of 9 to 2, Fountaincourt and Secured Deposit were at 15 to 1, and Beaver Boy and Rose and Thistle at 20 to 1.

Fountaincourt which, has run six times over 3200, once for a D.B. Auckland Cup win, is showing good form again but with 56kg he is required to give weight to both Affinity (55.5 kg and Bounty Hawk (55kg) and

that is a task indeed. Fountaincourt has a decided disadvantage too, in his No. 20 barrier position. He- might have to go over hard through' the first 800, or so, if he is not to cover too much extra ground on the first turn, .else be eased to near the back of the field. Secured Deposit, since his arrival in Melbourne about a month ago, has had two races for a sixth over 2400 m in the Herbert Power Handicap, at Caulfield, and a fifth in the Geelong Cup, also at 2400 m. The runs pleased the trainer, Neville Atkins, who has some hope that Secured Deposit will acquit himself well this afternoon. It is impossible to dismiss the-, gelding altogether, he seemed such a good stayer when winning the last Wellington Cup. It seems more likely though that if the two favourites are beaten the winner will be one of the lightweights — Black Knight, Foxseal or Mapperley Heights. Black Knight, a five-year-old gelding by the 1971 New Zealand-bred Melbourne Cup winner, Silver Knight, could hardly be in better hands, trained by. George Hanlon and to be ridden by Peter Cook.

He ran on attractively when third in the 2500 m Dalgety at Flemington last Saturday as did Foxseal, for fifth. They looked hard and seasoned, thoroughly ready for a tough 3200 m. ‘