Bonecrusher entered for $250,000 Australian Cup

Press, 20 December 1986, Page 37

Bonecrusher entered for $250,000 Australian Cup

NZPA Sydney New Zealand’s star galloper, Bonecrusher, will begin his Australian campaign next year in the sAust2so,ooo weight-for-age Australian Cup (2000 m at Flemington.

With entries for the March 9 race not closing for another month, Bonecrusher became the first horse on the list when his trainer Frank Ritchie handed over the $4O entry

fee to pleasantly surprised Victoria Racing Club officials. Ritchie, before leaving for New Zealand yesterday, said Bonecrusher was doing well in quarantine in Melbourne after his abortive trip to Japan where a bad virus forced him out of the Japan Cup.

“He’s actually put on weight in quarantine and I’m very pleased with his condition,” Ritchie said.

Bonecrusher remains in quarantine until early next month when he and Waverley Star, also in quarantine after the Japan Cup trip, will fly back to New Zealand. Ritchie said Bonecrusher would probably have two sprint runs in New Zealand before returning to Melbourne, but he may not be ready for the Air New Zealand Stakes on February 21.

The trainer said the

Australian Cup was the perfect chance to start Bonecrusher’s 1987 campaign in Australia. Then, after tackling the weight-for-age Tancred Stakes (2400 m in Sydney in April, an international campaign is planned for the four-year-old gelding. Bonecrusher’s regular rider, Gary Stewart, is staying in Melbourne near the quarantine station to visit him each morning and exercise him.