Mare surprises at false odds

Press, 3 April 1989, Page 28

Mare surprises at false odds

By DAVID MCCARTHY Peach Melba may have earned a trip to the Central Districts for an autumn campaign with her upset win in the Race Images 1600 at Riccarton on Saturday. Mick Murfitt who owns the mare in partnership with his wife, Melba, will decide tomorrow whether Peach Melba and her sister, Eye Full, will join Maurice Campbell’s stable with a tilt at the $BO,OOO Hawke’s Bay Cup on the cards for Eye Full and a $lO,OOO 1600 m event likely for her younger sister on the first day of that meeting.

“There’s not much more for them here and as long as they are in the right environment they should do well up there,” the veteran studmaster and trainer said yesterday. “It is possible Eye Full will be bred with Truly Vain but the other mare has plenty of racing to do yet. I’ll have to make up my mind early in the week but if one mare goes both will.” Peach Melba was possibly at false odds on Saturday and her win

underlines the tradition of horsemanship which has brought Murfitt many victories over the years. She was unplaced two starts back in the 2400 m Dunedin Cup which in turn was only her second run since failing in the Canterbury Gold Cup last November. Peach Melba went a bold race in the Great Easter last Monday after being lost for early speed but the extra distance of Saturday’s event allowed her to settle handily and withstand a marvellous effort from Pericolini, having only his third start for the season, which was near the rear with 800 m to run. St James was a gallant third after racing keenly from a wide draw and the favourite, Irish Anchor, fourth after having his chance.

Peach Melba is the seventh of eight winners left by I Spy which won five races herself for the Murfitts. She is the granddam of several other winners for the Murfitts, and other owners, one of the best being a Dunedin Gold Cup winner, War Lass.

The Murfitts were successful with another of I Spy’s progeny, Tip Off, ridden by Campbell on the second day of the Easter meeting. I Spy is a half-sister to Spy Force, winner of 14 from the Murfitt stable, including the Great Easter, and besides Eye Full and Peach Melba she has left the top class racemare Dainty Dish. Eye Full and Peach Melba being on hand for the Hawke’s Bay meeting along with Palastone could give their sire, Palatable, a chance of taking out the sires’ premiership, another factor in the Murfitt decision. The Riccarton Stud sire is currently second to Straight Strike on the sires’ list. Pericolini, the runnerup in the Race Image Stakes on Saturday, may race at Nelson next month and at Riccarton but needs firm footing. Margarella, one of the pre-post favourites for the race, was a late scratching after she was found to be running a temperature and have some puffiness in the legs on Saturday morning.