Canterbury Belle bows out with brilliant record

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 31

Canterbury Belle bows out with brilliant record

By

J. J. BOYLE

Canterbury Belle has gone into retirement as winner of nine races and close to $450,000 from the Kerr stable at Riccarton. She returned to her birthplace at the Inglewood Stud on Thursday. She is in foal to Star Way and it was decided to wind down her career at this stage rather than prepare her for the Jarden Mile at Trentham later this month to avoid risking the jarring effects of a preparation on firm tracks. Canterbury Belle became a South Island household name as she assembled a brilliant record for Nick and Carol Wigley in her three-year-old racing. Her programme in New Zealand at that age yielded six wins from seven starts. She won at her first four starts, a sequence climaxed by her victory in the New Zealand One Thousand Guineas. She was unable to do herself justice after injuring herself in the starting gate before the Bayer Classic at Levin, but came back in the autumn to win twice more, at Rangiora and Riccarton. She was then taken to Queensland and established her class and brilliance in distinguished company when she won the Elders Stakes in the hands of Grant Cooksley. Canterbury Belle’s four-year-old programme in New Zealand yielded two wins and two seconds from five starts. Success eluded her on

an autumn campaign in Sydney, but she started on her five-year-old racing encouragingly this season with a third in The Stewards at Riccarton. She was fifth against more seasoned rivals in the Dulcie Stakes, won by Tidal Light, at Te Rapa on December 2, and before she was brought south she was covered by Star Way. Her only start since was in the weight-for-age Timaru Cup. She ran the

winner Random Chance to a nose after being held up for a run at a vital late stage of the race. Canterbury Belle is by the Inglewood Stud’s sire, Beaufort Sea, from Callao Queen, winner of two races. Callao Queen’s fifth living foal, a colt by Beaufort Sea’s associate sire, Cocky Golfer, will be offered on the first day of the National yearling sales at Trentham on January 20. Canterbury Belle’s de-

parture from the Kerr stable this week was a saddening experience for her trainers. “But it was only a matter of time when she proved to be in foal, and it would have not been easy getting her to her peak for a hard race with weight to battle against in the Jarden at Trentham,” Jan Kerr said yesterday.

Dave and Jan Kerr are now looking to the Tau-ranga-owned Crystal Brook to make valuable

contributions to the stable’s record of recent seasons. Crystal Brook won three races and was second at her other start for Mr Don Cameron last season, but a setback denied her a chance of running in valuable spring races for three-year-olds. She has been back in work for a month, and the autumn could offer rewarding opportunities for a talented young galloper. ■