Skin complaint costs Poetic Prince a start

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 35

Skin complaint costs Poetic Prince a start

By

J. J. BOYLE

A skin complaint has cost the talented three-year-old, Poetic Prince, a start in the $lOO,OOO Wrightson Handicap at Trentham today.

His clash with Courier Bay, another Taranaki speedster, was expected to be one of the highlights of today’s racing, but that might not take place now until the Lion Brown Sprint at Te Rapa on February 16. Poetic Prince’s trainer, John Wheeler, said yesterday that the skin complaint, in the girth area, had been “smouldering” for some time, and its recent treatment would have ruled out a start under the seven-day rule.

Wheeler scratched Poetic Prince' from the Wrightson Handicap yesterday, and also withdrew his four-year-old, Sir Zeus,

from the Terrace Regency Handicap, the first leg of the T.A.B. double. Sir Zeus, the Manawatu Cup winner last month, knocked a leg recently, and was also ruled out by treatment.

It should be possible to start him on Monday in the Air New Zealand Handicap, a penalty-free race for the Wellington Cup. The Takanini jockey, Grant Cooksley, who won the Trentham Stakes last year on The Filbert, was engaged yesterday to ride the northern hemispherebred She Might Hula in the weight-for-age feature race today. She Might Hula is a four-year-old daughter of Caucasus and is from the successful Cambridge stable of Alan Jones. She ran a track record for 2100 m at class 2 level at the Bay of Plenty meeting on December 30, and was

a close second in a class 1 2000 m race at Hastings six days later.

Double Lang, Frosty Heir, and Lady Blandford will represent South Island stables in the Trentham Stakes. Lady Blandford runs for the Garth Jackson stable, which put Samasaan into this race two years ago.

Samasaan finished fourth, then won the Wellington Cup a week later. Raymond Bruce will ride Frosty Heir, continuing an association that proved rewarding in the Invercargill Gold Cup.

Riccarton’s John Dowling will not go north to ride Windsor’s Pal today, and the mount has gone to Maree Lyndon. Another Lyndon mount will be Dashing Run, the top weight and a favourite for the Hopeful Handicap for two-year-olds.