Notable double to Alibhai

Press, 1 April 1985, Page 36

Notable double to Alibhai

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney

The Tancred Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday proved a disappointment for the New Zealand challengers, although it provided a top dress-rehearsal for the Sydney Cup at Randwick in a fortnight The sAust4oo,ooo (1612,000) weight-for-age feature race over 2400 m was won brilliantly by the Noble Bijou four-year-old Alibhai, which served notice of what was to come when he won the Rawson Stakes a fortnight ago. He staged a dramatic duel with the Tancred titleholder and dual Metropolitan winner, Hayai, to come out on top by three lengths, with the Vice Regal gelding, Prolific, third. In taking the RawsonTancred staying double, he earned a sAust7o,ooo bonus, and is now favourite for the sAust2so,ooo Sydney Cup. However, the connections

of both the New Zealanders, Imaprince and Rose and Thistle, were more than C leased with the efforts put i in the Tancred and are looking forward to the 3200 m cup. Rose and Thistle joined the leaders at the midway point and was right up with Astrolin as the pacemaker lead the field to the home turn.

When Alibhai and Hayai took off, the veteran jockey, Bob Skelton, got Rose and Thistle up to join them, but was overpowered by Prolific in the run to the line. In behind them the Wellington Cup winner, Imaprince, put up an impressive effort.

After racing at the back of the pack all the way, his jockey, Phil Mercer, weaved a path through the tiring runners to finally end up on the rails for the run to the line where it took a long study of the photo-finish before the judges could

separate him from Prolific. Mercer said after the race that the four-year-old mudlark had felt the hard going, and would have preferred some of the sting out of the ground. “He’d have liked it a bit wet, a shower in the morning would have helped,” he said.

“He got held up momentarily when he was starting to wind into it in the straight and he was left a bit flat. I had to really give him a couple of whacks to get him going.

“Also he hasn’t raced this way round recently which might have made a bit of difference. He lugged his head in towards the rails when we came up behind Prolific, so I let him go that way and I thought we might have been able to snatch third,” said Mercer. “But it was a top lead-up for the Sydney Cup.” Rose and Thistle’s trainer, Errol Skelton, had much the same opinion of his charge’s effort.

"He’s not a weight-for-age horse and in the Sydney Cup he drops to 53kg (from the 58.5 kg on Saturday),” he said.

“He’s an honest horse and I couldn’t ask for a better leadup for the cup.” Other New Zealanders in action on Saturday included Ringtrue, which is being prepared for a crack at the Doncaster Handicap. He was a solid seventh in the

sAust3o,ooo Diners Club Cup over 1500 m.

The race was won by the former New Zealander, Royal Troubador, which won by a half-length from Vain Fury and Tidp Time, and Ringtrue could have been closer if he had not been blocked on the rails. Ringtrue, ridden by Grant Cooksley, began from barrier one but was immediately swamped by the outsiders and did not see daylight until near the finish.

“He got a block when he wanted to go,” said his trainer, Colin Jillings, later. “Still I’m quite happy with the run and he’s still on target for the Doncaster.”

Cooksley had marginally better luck earlier in the day when he rode the recently-purchased New Zealand colt, Sir Zephyr, into fourth place behind Prince Frolic in the sAust4o,ooo Tulloch Stakes over 2000 m.

His trainer, Brian Smith, formerly of New Zealand, said the performance vindicated the decision by his new Australian owners to bring the horse to Australia. “I wanted a New Zealand jockey to ride him because that’s what he’s used to and New Zealand jockeys have been riding that type of horse all the time,” he said.

“I’m rapt. He’s improved so well. He’s a real mile and a half horse,” said Smith.