Bonecrusher outstays N.Z. Derby rivals

Press, 27 December 1985, Page 21

Bonecrusher outstays N.Z. Derby rivals

Special correspondent Auckland Bonecrusher won the New Zealand Derby yesterday in moments when they were just inside the last 600 m of the big race. It took the rider, Gary Stewart, just that long to get Bonecrusher from the inside into the lead which he held until the finish. Once clear, Stewart dashed Bonecrusher away and the gelding, this time at 2400 m, stayed on just as determinedly as ever to hold off a challenge from Flight Bijou, no less determined, by three-quarters of a length. Random Chance, a stout South Island representative, was two lengths further away, third, shading Field Dancer (fourth) and Brooke Bond (fifth). While Anteaus and Sharp Ace made the early running in the Derby at a moderate pace, Bonecrusher settled nicely about midfield. Stewart somehow edged him closer when they came into the last 800 m then had him perfectly placed for a run at the leaders.

It was as nice a piece of riding as could be seen. The only real concern Bonecrusher’s backers had from there was when the gelding shied away from the inside with about 300 m to go. Stewart thought the horse

might have been distracted by a sun umbrella on the inside of the track. More likely he ducked away from the post marking the 2000 m start.

A chestnut gelding by Australian-bred Pag-Asa from an Oakville mare, Imitation, Bonecrusher won the Bayer Classic two starts back and the Avondale Guineas in between so today’s race gave him a marvellous hat trick.

All told he has had 15 starts from six wins, seven minor placings and the $125,000 for first in yesterday’s Wrightson Bloodstock sponsored race, brought his stake earnings to $281,209. Bonecrusher’s owner, Mr Peter Mitchell, paid only $3250 for his horse when he bought him at Wrightson Bloodstock’s Waikato Yearling Sale and obviously secured a great bargain. In the care of Frank Ritchie, at Ellerslie, Bonecrusher took hardly any time to show he could gallop. In his second start he set an Ellerslie record for 800 m. He showed his pace again when winning 1600 m in the Bayer Classic and in the way he ran the 2000 m of the Avondale Guineas began to look as though the Derby’s 2400 m could be well within his compass. Bonecrusher became the first Ellerslie-trained

winner of the Derby on the home course since Somerset Fair, trained by the late John Bagby, won in 1955. The closest an Ellerslie horse went between times was in 1965 when Terrific, trained by Frank Ritchie’s father, Merv Ritchie, was edged out by Peterman. Sadly and fairly inevitably, little will be seen of Bonecrusher in New Zealand through the rest of the summer and the coming autumn. He is now to be let up for a week or so. Trentham is to be bypassed and the sights of his connections are set on Sydney in the autumn.

The slowness of the Derby gallop, by comparison with some others during recent years, lessened not a bit the merit of Bonecrusher’s performance. He went the 2400 m in 2:29.47—compared with Jolly Jake’s race record of 2:27.39 last year, timed for the last 1600 m in 1:39.33 and 800 in 48.97.

Perhaps through the steadiness of the pace—the Derby has so often been a stop-and-go affair—all the runners seemed to have their chance.

Tristram’s Belle, from which so much was expected, seemed unable to raise the necessary speed, and Sir Sydney failed to stay sufficiently well.