Tasmanian unlikely for Nescafe

Press, 22 May 1986, Page 30

Tasmanian unlikely for Nescafe

PA Auckland A cancelled flight has robbed the $150,000 Nescafe Steeplechase of one of its big drawcards, the Tasmanian jumper, Tengah Hari.

The horse was booked to fly from Melbourne to Auckland on Saturday but Wrightson Bloodstock "rescheduled" the plane when bookings fell short.

The trainer, Michael Trinder, said a 14-hour float trip to make a Sydney connection was unacceptable. “The travelling would kill the horse. He’d have a 14-hour boat trip from here to Melbourne, then another 14 hours on the float and then the flight to New Zealand.

“It’s really mucked things up.” Mr Trinder said Tengah Hari could have been in Melbourne last Saturday for the Commonwealth Steeples at Moonee Valley “where he would have run no worse than second.”

“I’m very disappointed, we’ve been planning this trip for nearly 12 months. “Since Wrightsons rang to say they couldn’t honour the booking I’ve tried all other avenues without success.

“This is the sort of horse which comes along only once in a lifetime. He’s an out-and-out stayer which had been set for this one race. I don’t know if he’ll be around next year. “The only way I can see us getting over there now is if a flight is rescheduled for some unknown reason in the next day or two, but Wrightsons have expressed grave doubts about that”

Wrightson’s transport manager, Mr Bruce Ram-

say, told an Auckland reporter that the flight had been deferred — not cancelled — because only four horses were booked on the Auckland-to-Mel-bourne leg. “We can’t afford to send a plane with only four horses on it, that’s a little bit too empty.” A full load took 39 horses and “break even point” was 33 to 34, he said. With each berth costing $2lOO, Wrightsons would have lost more than $60,000 on the Melbourne flight. “The 24 we sent to

Brisbane yesterday cost us quite a bit too.” Mr Ramsay said few flights had been cancelled in the last couple of years. It wasn’t as if a contract had been broken because Mr Trinder had not paid his fare. Leon Lupton, of Waverley, is determined to get Region here for the June 2 Ellerslie feature despite the flight hitch. He plans to float Region from Melbourne to Sydney in the cool of night after he contests the sAustl 5,000 Redditch Steeples (3350 m at Sandown on Saturday.