Atrapar and Coal Pak resume rivalry today

Press, 22 June 1985, Page 27

Atrapar and Coal Pak resume rivalry today

NZPA Sydney The New Zealand sprinter, Atrapar, will get more fine-tuning for his tilt at the famous “Bernborough” double when he runs in the sAustso,ooo Tourist Ministers Cup over 1350 m at Doomben today.

His trainer, Bill Calder, accepts that the distance might be a bit short for the five-year-old, but he wants to get the work into him as a leadup to the sAustlBo,ooo Rothmans 100,000 on July 6 and then the sAust2os,ooo Fourex Cup a week later.

The historic double — the Rothmans is a 1350 m sprint and the cup a 2200 m staying race — was won by the mighty Bernborough in 1946, and the closest any other horse has come to it was the rugged New Zealander, Axeman, which won the 1983 Rothmans but was run down by the rank outsider, Lord Seaman, to finish a close second in the Cup the next week.

Atrapar was a fast-finish-ing fourth in the Elders Handicap a fortnight ago after being hampered from the inside barrier and then

being blocked for a run several times in the straight. When he did find an opening along the rails he came home fast and was only a nose behind the West Australian Coal Pak in fourth place, while the race was by the New Zealand pair Canterbury Belle and Kingdom Bay.

Atrapar will today reopen the clash with CoalPak, which is marginally more favoured to score, while two other New Zealanders will also line up in the Tourist Minister’s Cup.

There is a big question mark over the chances of the New Zealand sprinter, Mr Illusion, getting to the gate after he suffered a stone bruise in training this week.

His trainer, Peter McKenzie, is not too hopeful of getting the horse right in time, rating him only a 10 per cent chance, but he has been working on the bruising and will make a final decision this morning. Final Affair, which last week improved on recent indifferent form to win the 4BC Sprint, is another Roth-

mans hope which is getting some fine-tuning from the trainer, Nigel Landers, and he will be ridden by the expatriate New Zealand jockey, Gary Willetts.

Final Affair’s 4BC win was a timely boost to Landers’ hopes after the horse was badly blocked in the Elders and made no impression at the finish. The former New Zealandbased and still New Zea-land-owned Mr Ironclad, with big wins in the IXL and Sandown Guineas in Melbourne to his credit, will try to add some Brisbane scalps to his trophy cabinet before his expected retirement to Frank Wilson’s Evergreen Lodge Stud at Matamata, or his new Scone property in New South Wales.

The One Pound Sterling grey is being aimed for the Rothmans, and a good performance today will boost him up the pre-race ratings. A top field of Australian sprinters is lining up for the cup, including Manuan, Lord Balina, Pete’s Choice and Sports Ruler, which have all turned in good leadup runs. The sAustls,ooo Sheraton-

Brisbane Handicap over 2048 m is one of the key leadups to the Fourex Cup, and among the runners is the New Zealander, Al Dwain, which has had only one run in Australia so far on the long road to the Melbourne Cup in November.

The rugged New Zealander, which ran third in the Caulfield Cup last year and in 1983 missed a Melbourne Cup clash with Kiwi after being ruled out of his last qualifying race, is taking on the New Zealander, Coober’s Gold, and some tough Australian competition in the form of Astrolin, Hussar’s Command, Rock Show, Heroic Blaze and Toyed.

Other New Zealanders going round today are Silverstyle and Itsarippa in the sAustl2,ooo Hamilton Island Novice over 1350 m; Mr Illusion’s stablemate, Nuclear Dream, in the Gladstone Novice of the same stake and distance; San Lefair in the $15,000 Jupiters Casino Handicap over 1637 m; and Glenties in the $12,000 Cairns Tropical Graduation over 2048 m.