N.Z. record could fall.

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 47

N.Z. record could fall.

A new national record time for 3200 m could well be posted after the running of the Toyota New Zealand Cup at Addington Raceway this afternoon. Two years ago the Sydney pacer, Steel Jaw, eclipsed the Cup field in breathtaking style recording 4min 5.3 s with an unexpected winning margin of nine and a half lengths over Camelot.

This was half a second inside Delightful Lady’s national record and comfortably better than the race record of 4min 7.2 s set by Hands Down in 1980. Last year Camelot came out on top in 4min 6.4 s and his racing in recent weeks suggests that he could go even better today. However, whether this would be good enough to

give him a second victory remains to be seen. Ken Lavin, part-owner of the 'Visiting Perth horse, Preux Chevalier, thinks he is capable of a mile rate of 2min or better for the 3200 m, the equivalent of 3min 58.4 s for the full distance, a time most believe impossible from a standing start. Should the winner man-

age to approach an even 4min time for the distance, he will leave some extremely exhausted horses struggling home at lengthy intervals. The greatest winning margin before that of Steel Jaw was eight lengths by False Step in 1959 when he won the race for a second time in the hands of Cecil Devine.

Wildwood Junior, Jn 1909, had the longest winning margin in the history of the race when he waltzed away to an official margin of 40 yards, or a little more than 13 lengths. Monte Carlo. (1904) and Marion (1907) both had 12 lengths to spare over their nearest rivals when they were successful in the Cup.