Deerstalker back in hunting trim

Press, 8 December 1988, Page 40

Deerstalker back in hunting trim

Bv

DAVID McCARTHY

Deerstalker, one of the more talented of South Island gallopers at peak, makes his first appearance for eight months in the Cook and Co. Handicap at Riccarton on Saturday and his trainer, Jan Hay, feels he will need the race.

However, the Ngawyni gelding, whose second to Robinski in the Lion Brown Stakes at Riccarton last Easter, after being very slow away, was a highlight of the meeting, has a gold record fresh and still must be considered in his first start since April. Deerstalker’s spring campaign was aborted when he suffered a fetlock injury which required surgery. At first his racing future looked bleak but in the end he responded well to the removal of gristle from the leg. So well, in fact, that one of the most testing aspects of his recovery, from his connections’ point of view, was the horse’s eagerness to escape the essentially boring routine of being boxed while the injury recovered. “You never know with fetlock injuries. He might never be quite the same again, but he seems fine and a race won’t do him any harm” Hay said. Deerstalker, winner of the James Hazlett Stakes last year, is set for the Timaru Cup these holidays all going well. He was third in that event last year, won by Cammalino Star, a race rival on Saturday. Deerstalker has had just 23 starts in the South Island and won six of them. He surprised his connections with the ease of his first-up win over . 1400 m at Ashburton early last season and the previous season had also raced well on the fresh side. He has not had a trial leading up to Saturday’s race, however. A positive aspect to Deerstalker’s injury is a tendency he had to run about under pressure in his races previously. It is possible the fetlock problem was a contributing factor. The Hay stable does not have a large racing team, a factor behind it being one of the most successful stables in the country last season on a starters to wins basis with 23 successes.

Newcomers of interest include Endicott and the three-year-old Prince Echo filly, Acushla. Endicott is a four-year-old Mussgorsky gelding from Brazen Princess. Acushla, a daughter of the Lowland Stakes winner Wandreen, failed recently in heavy going in the north where she was trained at Matamata by Roger James. She had one outing as a juvenile, running fifth of 14 at Ellerslie in April over 800 m and should not be hard to place in the south. A Star Way youngster handled earlier by the O’Sullivan stable is another recent

newcomer to the team and Hay is looking toward The Love Machine, Stormy Weather, Never So Bold and Zillah as other leading members of her holiday racing team. “The Love Machine has come up well and I was pleased with his run at Timaru,” Hay said.

The Love Machine, a winner over 1600 m last term, finished seventh on Monday over 1200 m. Zillah also produced a heartening run at Beaumont when second to Fiesta Point. “She blew hard and really needed the race,” said Hay of the brilliant Standaan mare which showed oodles of speed last season when trained at Awapuni. Never So Bold ran second at the Beaumont meeting and should win a novice event over the holidays.

Morgan Page is still turned out and won’t race until well into the New Year while Mellors seems to have recovered from a back problem which sidelined him earlier.

However Deerstalker will be the centre of the stable interest on Saturday and with luck will be a force to be reckoned with over the holiday racing period.