Ashburton quinella could have noble touch about it

Press, 30 August 1985, Page 21

Ashburton quinella could have noble touch about it

BY

J. J. BOYLE

A quinella for members of the Noble Bijou tribe does not look the least likely of the possibilities for the Star Time Caterers Handicap at Ashburton tomorrow.

Noble Note, from Riccarton, and Bi Noble and Noble Jewel from Wingatui, will represent the eminent Otago-based sire in the T.A.B. trifecta event and first leg of the Ashburton County Racing Club’s T.A.B. double. Noble Note has been Noble Bijou’s most successful Canterbury-based winner and has earned top weight of 56.5, if not for anything he has done recently, well certainly for a high standard of performances at and about the metric mile at four and five years. The immediate quest for Noble Note will be to bring him back to the form that carried him to two wins last year in Queensland followed last spring by a win in the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Members Handicap, and a second in Reingard’s Can-

terbury Gold Cup. He won the Otago Racing Club’s White Robe Lodge Stakes in style under 56.5 last February, but his form then tapered off, perhaps because of a continuation of firm tracks in one of Canterbury’s driest years. He failed to improve his strong home-track record in two starts at the Grand National meeting, appearing to come to the end of his run after a brief flicker of a challenge early in the run home in the Winter Cup. But none that beat him in that one is in the line up this time, and some light relief in weight allied with the likely benefits of that racing could count for much tomorrow. Bi Noble, Prince Majestic’s four-year-old brother, is the winner of four races,

three of the at 2000 m, the other at 1800 m. He might not get a better opportunity to disclose if he has the sharpness to win a class 1 metric mile but Ashburton could show him to greater advantage than Oamaru, where he beat all but Chook a Rook last week. While the stoutly-bred Bi Noble seems certain to achieve his full powers over longer trips, it would be surprising if he failed to come up with a big run tomorrow. Buffy Beaufort, like Noble Note, is attempting to regain a level of form that has given her a high ranking among the South Island metric millers. The Orari stablemates, Our Secret Weapon and Royal Adder, will be generally expected to improve on

anything they show as metric milers when they are stepped up to middle distances, but a placed run from either of them would not surprise. Ariage, His Latest, Rattle the Sabre, and Donizetti will probably do much of their campaigning later this season as middle-distance performers, but as relatively fresh horses one or more of them could battle into contention. Sea Poppy and Tirana, two of the beneficiaries from the disqualification of Panther in a 1200 m sprint on the second day of the Grand National meeting, will be on the short list of fancies for the Woodhams Woolstore Handicap, second leg of the T.A.B. double. They were promoted to second and third respectively behind Black Arrow

when Panther lost the race in the inquiry room. It was Sea Poppy’s first race since the autumn, and it could have been valuable in fitting her for a spring programme of sprint racing. Tirana went close to winning the last time he raced at Ashburton in June. He was outfinished over 1410 m by the Wingatui-trained King Kaka, which did not have any luck in the running in his first of two starts at the Grand National meeting, then finished about the middle in the Winter Cup. Shady News missed racing at the Grand National meeting after a setback, but has recovered and freshened well. She was fourth behind King Kaka at Ashburton in June, that following a sprint win at the Otago winter meeting.