Dare’s sixth win

Press, 15 April 1986, Page 35

Dare’s sixth win

Special correspondent Auckland

For so many years one of the most successful trainers in the North Island’s Central Districts, Dave Jones made an auspicious affair of his first visit to Te Aroha on Saturday. The four-year-old mare, Dare, which he prepares for Tom Lowry, of Okawa stud, made no race of the Te Aron Jockey Club’s $40,000 cordon Wyborn Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, racing away for her sixth win in just seven starts.

Though ” -posed by some t." Allies and mares, Dar« was a hot favourite • d she gave her backer- and the rider, David Peake, no cause for concern.

After a quick beginning Dare travelled strc-u o ly behind the leaders, Dsrriana, Cool Deal and Patricia, to the home turn in the 1600 m event, took a gap between Derriana and Cool Deal with about 200 m to go, and cleared them in a few strides.

She was out on her own at the post, two lengths ahead of Trocane, which ended a long, game run on the outside, in second place just ahead of Cool Deal, Cosmetique, Ma Chiquita and Patricia. Eastern Joy, the next best backed to Dare,

offered no opposition but not through her own fault. She was beginning to make ground, along the inside with about 300 m to go till Hexagonal cannoned into her.

Eastern Joy might well have been brought down; any chance she had was certainly lost. The judicial committee viewed the incident so seriously that they suspended Hexagonal’s rider, Jock Caddigan, up to and including April 25. Unraced as a two-year-old, Dare won her only two races last season, when three. In her first two attempts this season she finished first then third and with three races since has completed a hat-trick. Three starts back she took a class 3,1200 m race at Te Rapa and, between then and the Te Aroha ra< added a weight-for-ag ». ' at Wanganui. Her recoru is six wins and a third placing from just seven starts.

It is easy to tell why Dare has been so lightly raced: she is a big, heavy mare and her legs almost certainly need to be watched carefully. A grey, she was bred by her owner, by the Eng-lish-bred Three Legs from Liefkin. Three Legs, one of the best sprinters of his day, was imported to New Zealand by Mr Lowry and

the late Captain Tim Rogers in 1979 and was an immediate success, represented already by such winners as Jolly Jake, Eastern Joy and Burletta, as well as Dare. Liefkin did nothing in a short racing career to distinguish herself but she is a daughter of Lilt, such a fine galloper during the early 19705.

The closest Jones had been to Te Aroha before Saturday was with Froth, another mare he trained for one of the Lowry family. It was at nearby Paeroa that Jones topped off Froth’s racing in preparation for the Auckland summer meetings of 195859 and 1959-60. The first time Froth went on to Ellerslie for a runaway win in the Auckland Cup, the second time she finished third behind Marie Brizard and Aircraft.

Dare’s future racing this season has yet to be decided but there is a good chance that before being taken home to Hastings she will race again on this trip in the Owens Japan-New Zealand International at Tauranga next Saturday.

Jones said at Te Aroha that whether Dare ran in the Tauranga race would probably depend on the rehandicap she was given for Saturday’s win. As it happens she is up 2kg to seem quite well placed still with 52kg. David Peake, who rode Dare on Saturday, had won the Breeders’ Stakes twice previously, on the Verner-trained runners Melody Belle (1975) and Gold Hope (1982). He is enjoying this season, one of his best where feature races are concerned, having won previously on Kingdom Bay, at Te Aroha, Ma Chiquita and All Belles (Ellerslie) and Solveig (Trentham). Derriana made them go pretty hard and Dare’s 1:34.91 is the third fastest time put up for the race, next to Gold Hope’s 1:34 and Tudor Light’s 1:34.2.