Harry resting after star turn at Trantham

Press, 21 July 1988, Page 36

Harry resting after star turn at Trantham

By

DAVID McCARTHY

The talented, Christchurch owned, Vice Regal gelding, Harry, has been put aside for a deserved spell by his Wanganui trainer, Don Grubb, and is unlikely to be seen out until next autumn. The compact son of a Timaru-bred mare, Semaphore, has won four of his five starts on this campaign for Maurice Neiman, of Riccarton, who bred the youngster. “I feel he could be a good stayer with more age on him but he has some filling out to do so we’ll give him a good spell,” said Mr Neiman of the first horse he has raced on his own account. Harry was one of the stars of the Wellington Racing Club’s winter meeting, winning over 1400 m on the first day and successful in the 1600 m Kia Ora Handicap last Saturday in the hands of David Walsh. “The going was testing then and it was the equivalent to a 2000 m

race,” Mr Neiman said of the second win. Semaphore, which won three races at 1600 m, was earlier bred from in partnership by Mr Neiman and he bought her outright when she went up for auction. Semaphore has now left four winners from five foals and the fifth, Flagstone, had to be put down after only two starts as a two-year-old. A daughter, Whirl, won four while the ill-fated Blarney Lass could have been a headliner but for a piece of stunning bad luck. Blarney Lass, by Blarney Kiss sire of Kiwi had been set for the One Thousand Guineas of 1981 and produced an encouraging lead-up being beaten a head and a neck, by Swell Deal and Julia, in the Desert Gold Stakes at Trentham a few weeks before. However, moments after being treated by a veterinary surgeon, before travelling to Christchurch, the filly dropped dead. Semaphore, rising 19 years, has not had a filly

since though she is in foal to Dorchester by which tiorse she has a weanling :olt. A half-brother to Dorchester, by Northern Dancer was the top priced colt at the Keeneland Sales this week at $3.8 million. It is because he would like a filly to carry on the line that Mr Neiman is contemplating returning Semaphore to be bred with Vice Regal. The breeder had some drama with previous visits by Semaphore to the outstanding sire. She slipped her first foal, late in her pregnancy, at a time when price controls resulted in some studs using the tendering system to allocate services. Mr Neiman tendered an increased figure, in spite of the live foal guarantee commitment, only to find that this was initially unacceptable though agreement was later reached. By the time Harry was foaled Vice Regal’s fee had quadrupled. Semaphore has had

some troubles foaling in recent years but Grasslands Stud, where she has been based, and where Harry was broken-in, have worked the oracle. Harry was originally offered to Colin Jillings to train but he had reservations about the youngster’s feet, one being smaller than the other. “I asked Jim Campin (owner of Vice Regal and his trainer during the stallion’s outstanding race career) about it and he said Vice Regal himself wore different sized shoes in front and, funnily enough, so does Gatcombe’s Pride,” Mr Neiman said. Harry became a stablemate of Gatcombe’s Pride when the breeder approached Don Grubb to train the youngster on a recommendation he had had several years before. Harry, whose dam was bred by Graeme Jackson, is closely related to the outstanding jumpers Terex (Riddiford, Manawatu and Timaru

Steeplechases, and placed in the Wellington and Grand National Steeplechases) Taitan (twice runner-up in the Grand National) and Buzz. Closely related also was another fine jumper, Celsius while further back in the pedigree appears the New Zealand Oaks winner, Mercy, and the outstanding Pilliewinkie (by Winkie, sire of Phar Lap’s dam) which won the C.J.C. Metropolitan, Dunedin Cup, Australian Cup, C. B. Fisher Plate and the Melbourne Stakes when they were some of the top races in Australia. Harry’s family, that of Mermaid, is one of the great foundation tribes of the New Zealand turf including, among its descendants, this country’s. first Melbourne Cup runner, the ill-fated Lurline, triple Wellington Cup winner Cynisca, the great galloper Limerick, his outstanding brother Ballymena which, was also accidentally killed, Bruce, Royal Tan and a host of others.