Filly impressive in winning debut

Press, 14 December 1985, Page 27

Filly impressive in winning debut

By

J. J. BOYLE

Crystal Brook, a £30,000 purchase at the Waikato sales last summer, made an impressive first return for her Tauranga owner, Mr Don Cameron, in winning the Middlepark Plate at Riccarton yesterday. The chestnut daughter of Star Way and the Zamazaan mare, Inhabitant, won in style by two lengths and a quarter of the hands of the Riccarton jockey, Grant Davison. One of the first to congratulate Mr Cameron after his filly won yesterday was Bob Skelton, who now lives in Australia but struck up a brief but successful patnership with Mr Cameron when he was riding in New Zealand. Skelton won an Adams Mile and a Rotorua Cup on Mr Cameron’s good horse Kaukapakapa and he was quick to recognise familiar colours when Crystal Brook

paraded for her race debut yesterday. Crystal Brook is trained at Riccarton by Dave Kerr, who now plans to prepare her for the Champagne Stakes at Wingatui. Kerr prepared Clansman to win the Two Thousand Guineas and several other races for Mr Cameron.

Nuriootpa and Quondo have been other performers of class to carry the Cameron colours, but the former Canterbury businessman has seldom looked to fillies for his sale ring purchases. “I wanted a filly this time because she could be an ongoing interest for my family,” he said yesterday. Waipuna was easily the best of Crystal Book’s five rivals yesterday. He was nicely clear coming across the chute to the course proper, but could not find anything like enough to match the power of Crystal Brook’s challenge.