Maree Lyndon star of a bleak day at Riccarton

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 34

Maree Lyndon star of a bleak day at Riccarton

By

J. J. BOYLE

Maree Lyndon left her stamp on the Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting yesterday by kicking home four winners.

In doing so she accounted for the T.A.B. double and carried off first prize of 1500 in the jockeys’ competition staged by the club. Buffy Beaufort and Mee Lai formed the successful combination for the T.A.B. double. Besides, Lyndon won on Kelim and Purple Tone. Kelim and Mee Lai won two of the races in the jockeys’ competition. Young Hawk, another Lyndon mount in the competition, came in fourth.

Buffy Beaufort finished strongly from half way down the field to win the W. D. Skelton Farewell. Mee Lai showed something of

the art of front running to win unchallenged in the second leg, the Noir Filou Handicap. “She’s got a heart like an ox,” said the Riccarton trainer, Tom Lalor, after he saw his colour bearer Buffy Beaufort triumph under top weight on a soft track in the W. D. Skelton Farewell. Buffy Beaufort needed only gentle persuasion from Maree Lyndon to win by a length and a half from Black Arrow.

It. was Buffy Beaufort’s third win this season for Tom and Greta Lalor. Maree Lyndon has been the successful rider in two of

these wins, and another North Islander, Peter Johnson, partnered her in the other one.

Lyndon came south for the Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting last December and rode Buffy Beaufort to an easy win in the club’s feature 1600 m weight-for-age race.

The four-year-old daughter of Beaufort Sea won over a middle distance as Peter Johnson’s mount at the North Canterbury Racing Club’s autumn meeting. Her best run between that win and yesterday’s was her second a nose from Canterbury Belle over 1600 m on

the third day of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Easter meeting. Track conditions for yesterday’s race might have been expected to make heavy demands on Buffy Beaufort’s resources, but 800 m out she offered a reassuring sight as she was bowling along in relaxed fashion and ready to bounce from behind six rivals.

Up front Dios and Upper Cut were showing signs of tiring of their speed duel, and Black Arrow and the favourite, In the Glen, were getting closer for challenges. Dainty Dish also made a

brief dab, and just as she faded Buffy Beaufort, brought wider on the track, began to make strong headway. The top weight had her head on the side for much of the way from there to the post, but she was always in safe command and had a length and a half to show for her superiority over Black Arrow, which was carrying 4.5 kg less. In the Glen was close to three lengths back third, and three-quarters of a length in advance of the faster-finishing Sea Fort. Ariage was a one-paced fifth, and Upper Cut a tiring sixth.