Strong North Island presence obvious in buoyant betting

Press, 27 April 1987, Page 33

Strong North Island presence obvious in buoyant betting

By

J. J. BOYLE

North Island-trained horses landed wins, captured over $127,000 in stakes, and largely accounted for a spectacular $1,461,937 increase in T.A.B. betting on the Canterbury Jockey Club’s three-day Easter meeting, which ended at Riccarton on Saturday. Off-course bets on three days of racing at Riccarton totalled $3,621,787. On-course betting for the carnival was close to $1,119,413 and was up over $lOO,OOO on last year. The Matamata-trained Some Reason and the Waikanae-trained youngster, Martelomeo, won two off Saturday’s feature races in style. But Courier Flight and Real Pronto restored some mana for the South Island with surprise front-running victories in two of the other attractions on a tidy seven-race Anzac Day programme. TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMING

For Mr Kit Davison, Some Reason’s win in the Lion Brown Stakes was something like a trium-

phant homecoming. Mr Davison, who races the four-year-old in partnership with Mr Richard Lamb, of Sussex in England, lived in South Canterbury for several years, then moved to the Waikato where his father, the late John Davison, established the Mapperley Stud.

Some Reason’s owners bought the mare for $55,000 out of Mapperley’s 1984 draft at Trentham, and the four-year-old has now recovered $50,000 with seven wins from 24 starts. Such a record, backed by a pedigree that includes the English Oaks winner, Noblesse, as a distinguished close relation, makes Some Reason prized material as a future producer. More immediately she should make more contributions to the spectacular record of the Matamata stable of Jim Gibbs.

Some Reason was ridden on Saturday by Riccarton’s Chris Johnson, who has long since lost count of his victories in valuable “first legs” but set the pattern for last

week’s carnival by capturing the 3ZB Easter Classic on Polacca. For the umpteenth time Johnson’s rival, Grant Davison, figured in a quinella for these two South Island leaders on Saturday. Davison, who partnered the favourite Star Board, found the run of the race for the chestnut, but could not get the response he met with when he won the Great Easter on the speedster three days earlier. Davison thought Star Board was feeling the ground, and so unable to gallop with the freedom that marked his Great Easter victory. The disappointment of the Lion Brown Stakes was Asti Bay, which was backed down to second favourite, but, as Maurice Campbell reported, was “gone on the home turn.” MARTELOMEO STORMS HOME Earlier Campbell had more joy when he brought Star Board’s stablemate Martelomeo home on a storming run for victory in the Meadow Mush-

rooms Two-Year-Old Championship Final. Campbell found the experience memorable. He took the attractive but spirited Marscay filly to the start early, then was grounded when Mr Arthur Williams’s young speedster burst out of the starting gate.

Martelomeo cantered down to the home straight before being caught, and the programme had to be delayed several minutes while she was taken back to the 1200 m barrier. But there was no time wasted when they got down to business.

Martelomeo had at least eight of her rivals ahead of her starting on the last 400 m, but she showed impressive acceleration and won going away by three parts of a length from the Waikato youngster, Dashing King. The Stropper, a Southland youngster attempting his third successive win, was backed down to favourite. When racing greenly he clipped the heel of another runner about 200 m after the start, and wound up ninth.