Clinger gives trainer ‘tricky combination’ to work with

Press, 3 April 1989, Page 28

Clinger gives trainer ‘tricky combination’ to work with

By

David McCarthy

Clinger, the upset winner for Southland stables in the Linwood City Handicap at Riccar- ' ton on Saturday has been racing for six seasons but has started just 29 times. The Rapier gelding’s last win before Saturday was in February 1985, in the hands of the late Tane Matthews, at Gore. Mavor, a farmer at Scott’s Gap, near Invercargill, bought Clinger after he had had two starts and has battled to get him to the right peak of fitness and strike the right footing. "He’s had bad splint trouble and he is no good on wet tracks. It’s been a tricky combination,” said Mavor after Clinger, Our Greatest and The Beau returned a trifecta of over $16,000. Clinger had two starts last season at seven, five at six, one start as a five-year-old and a busy season at four when he

started seven times for two wins.

His trainer and partowner, Michael Mavor, is a brother of the professional trainer Angus and holds an owner-trainer’s licence.

The only other horse he has produced in recent times is Red Hussar an upset winner at Timaru last June.

Clinger proved the value of southern form at the meeting and it was underlined by Ali Robinson’s double with Billy Mac and Key Flight.

Key Flight, until recently, had been trained by the Olds at Matamata but is owned in the south and Robinson rode Key Flight’s dam Tranquil Flight to win at Riverton in March, 1970. The mare was a good performer from the stables of Rex Cochrane and Brian Anderton and has left smart gallopers Tai Flight and Pan Flight. A close relation to

Tranquil Flight, Courier Flight, ranks as the best horse Robinson has trained until now, his 15 wins including the White Robe Lodge Stakes and the James Hazlett Stakes, the latter in a dead-heat with Pokare. Robinson has hopes that Billy Mac, a surprise winner of the Peerswick Hurdles will adapt to the bigger fences in future. “He’s got a wind problem but if the race is run to suit like it was today he’s useful. The slower pace of steeplechase races should suit him better,” said Robinson. He also thought the Canterbury sun would not have harmed the outlook of horses based at Riverton during the week. “I stayed down there until late in the week. It was two degrees one day and we had three rugs on the horses to keep them warm. They are loving this,” said Robinson of the warm conditions at Riccarton.