Bonecrusher and Precocious Lad head free handicaps

Press, 25 July 1986, Page 24

Bonecrusher and Precocious Lad head free handicaps

PA Wellington Bonecrusher and Precocious Lad head the free handicaps for the 1985-86 season. The weights, framed by Stewart McGrail, of Palmerston North, at the invitation of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders, were issued on Wednesday.

That the two should head the ratings for the season hardly comes as a surprise. What has been awaited with interest is Mr McGrail’s assessment of Bonecrusher, the most talked about three year old of recent times.

He has given him 63kg, which is 2.5 kg ahead of second placed Waverley Star.

It’s a massive rating — but not the best.

Some 10 seasons ago, Neil Bluett rated Balmerino (63.5 kg and Ballybrit ~(62kg) as the best. Those ratings have become the accepted benchmarks for ratings. Two 'years after Balmerino, Uncle Remus was given , 62kg, while other recent top rated three-year-olds include Little Brown Jug (61kg), Ring The Bell (61kg), Altitude (61.5 kg Our Flight (60kg) and I’m Henry (60kg). Last year’s Derby winner Jolly Jake was top with 58.5 kg, all of which points not only to Mr McGrail’s rating of Bonecrusher, but also of Waverley Star. Avon’s Lord, the early

season sprint star, has been given 58kg and is clearly third. Royal Heights (56.5 kg is the top filly and ,skg kilo below that is the durable Honour Bright, and Regimental March.

Until he won the Bayer Classic at Levin last November, there was little suggestion that Bonecrusher would sweep the boards as he has done this season.

His record is impressive. In New Zealand he won five races and was placed four times for $379,675. The Bayer apart, he went on to win the Avondale Guineas and the New Zealand Derby. Against the older horses he won the Cambridge Stud International and the Air New Zealand.

If that wasn’t enough, the wins in the AJC Derby and the Tancred brought $650,000, pushing his stakes above the $1 million mark.

Time may tend to dim his deeds, but Balmerino, at three, won 14 races and ran three seconds from 18 starts.

Waverley Star won seven races from eight starts and was second in the Easter. His best win was in the Television Stakes and he won over $149,000.

He has not raced against Bonecrusher. That meeting is awaited with growing anticipation. Avon’s Lord won Six

and was placed four times from 10 starts for $120,575 before injury put him out for the season. He won the Great Northern (Winstone) Guineas, the Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes, the Hawke’s Bay and the Wanganui Guineas and then was second in the Wellington Guineas when heading for the triple crown and the $lOO,OOO bonus on offer. He beat Bonecrusher in the G.N. Guineas.

Avon’s Lord is now in Australia. It’s not beyond reason to suggest that the top trio of three‘year-olds could have a showdown in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 25. Royal Heights is the top filly. She won six of her eight races in New Zealand including the Oaks, the Royal Stakes and the Ladies’ Mile. Those wins brought. with it the Wrightson Filly of the Year series award. One race in Australia brought failure and a quick trip home.

The three-year-old rating looks to be based on the results and placings in Group and listed races. This may explain the absence of winter stars Catering King and Gatcombe’s Pride. Courier Bay (53kg) is among the “also rans”. Last year’s top two-year-old Star Board is down the list with 50.5 kg. If the three-year-old free handicap is predict-

able, the same could not be said for the two-year-old list. Given the likes of Precocious Lad, Shannon, Auto Air and Scotch and Dry, it has been a good year. But while the three-year-olds can get to 60kg, it is a much harder barrier for the two-year-olds.

Precocious Lad has been given 59.5 kg, ,skg more than Shannon and a kilo ahead of Auto Air. One Guinea (55.5 kg is next ahead of Mister Aythorpe and Scotch and Dry, both on 55kg. On 54.5 kg are Arctic Wolf, Alynda, Miss Emma and Sweet Symphony. The year before Ballybrit got his 62kg, Mop was given 61 kg and the year after Heidelberg 60kg. Since then McGinty and Vin d’Amour have been given 59.5 kg, the same as this year’s leader. Star Board, who had a fine record, was last season, given 58.5 kg.

Precocious Lad won four races and was placed five times from 11 starts for $156,150. His top rating comes from the fact that he won both sires produce stakes, at Awapuni and Ellerslie. On paper Shannon’s record is not nearly as impressive. He won both his starts in New Zealand including the Evergreen at Trentham and then in Australia won two of his four races including the Q.T.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes.

There is a strong school of thought in the lower half of the North Island that he was the best two-year-old. It was just a pity that he could not contest at least one of the Sires’ races.

Auto Air deserved a high rating. He had six wins and six placings from 13 starts. He won the Eclipse, the Wellesley, and the A.S.B. Juvenile and there were gritty seconds in the Radio Pacific Sires’ Stakes at Ellerslie and the Evergreen. He was fourth in the big one at Awapuni, but his passage in that has been the subject of a race-day appeal and two subsequent hearings. Auto Air deserved to be on a par with Shannon.

The rating of One Guinea ahead of Scotch and Dry and the high rating of Mister Aythorpe are, at first glance, surprises.

One Guinea won only once in New Zealand but has gained his high rating with a Castlemaine Stakes win on the Gold Coast. Mister Aythorpe won at Napier Park and then went on to capture the Grangewilliam. He raced only four times. His miss came in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes. Scotch and Dry and Alynda look lightly treated. Alynda won her first four before running third in the Matamata Breeders. Scotch and Dry

won that and her first four before running unplaced in the Grangewilliam. Her two starts in Australia showed promise, if bringing no tangible reward.