Finnegan outfoxes Guineas rivals

Press, 23 October 1989, Page 25

Finnegan outfoxes Guineas rivals

By DAVID MCCARTHY

One of the more fortunate days in the blossoming career of the Woodville horseman, Larry Cassidy, has turned out to be the one when fellow rider Noel Harris took a tumble off a maiden called Issaquah at the Egmont meeting last June.

In the previous race, Harris had partnered a promising juvenile called Finnegan Fox in his debut, but when he was unable to ride stablemate Motorinn later in the day the mount went to Cassidy.

Motorinn was placed, Cassidy inherited the rides from the stable of Brian Hayter and he guided Finnegan Fox to the most impressive of his four wins so far in the Wellington Guineas at Trentham on Saturday. Cassidy, aged 19, has blossomed under the tutelage of trainer Bruce Marsh and he will be striving for his 120th career win at Rangiora today, more than half of that number having been recorded in the last 14 months.

Finnegan Fox’s dashing win on testing ground on Saturday did not place great demands on Cassidy’s skills, however. The chestnut was keen early, but travelling a treat, with the leaders in his sights, at the turn.

Cassidy’s request for something extra in the run home provoked a swift, even stunning, response. The Silver Blaze three-year-old ran right away from his opponents to win by five lengths.

The emphatic nature of the response surprised even the rider. “He was a bit fresh today and pulled hard. I didn’t think he could sprint as good as that at the end,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy regards the Trentham track fondly and with good cause. Last week he took out the Desert Gold Stakes/Watkins Handicap double, while in January he rode the Marsh-trained Festal in his dead-heat with Mr Tiz in the Elders Stakes (formerly the Telegraph Handicap). However, Riccarton is just as big a favourite with Cassidy and he has bright prospects of extending his record there at the upcoming cup meeting. Finnegan Fox must rate a leading contender for the Two Thousand Guineas; the Desert Gold winner, Madame Bardot, is in the One Thousand Guineas and Watkins winner Jugged, the New Zealand Cup. The lastnamed is likely now to run in the Rotorua Cup next week as a cup leadup.

Owner-trainer Brian Hayter, who picked Finnegan Fox out of the paddock as a youngster at Manutahi Stud, was not surprised the youngster blew heavily after Saturday’s race.

“He’s missed a bit of work. I knew whatever he did today he would improve with,” said Hayter, who has made two previous trips to Riccarton, both with Trial Offer. She won the Oaks-

Derby double in 1964 and returned the year after to run third in the Stewards.

Hayter gave a small but undisclosed sum for Finnegan Fox to breeder Jim Norman, whose youngsters he inspects every year. More recently, he bought a half-sister to Finnegan Fox (by Destroyer).

The maternal line is a branch of the Eulogy family through the Aus-tralian-bred mare Mizam’s Belle, which was brought to this country in the early 19505. She was the dam of the fast young galloper, Pipe Dream, which won a Railway Handicap as an older horse, and the Singapore Gold Cup winner, Alpenstock. Her dam, Mizam’s Ring, won both the Vic- ■ torian One Thousand Guineas and Oaks.

Finnegan’s Fox’s sire, Silver Blaze, now stands at the Manorshire Stud, Mid-Canterbury. The over-riding question after Saturday’s win, which left no excuses for his rivals, is whether Finnegan Fox will be as effective on a fast surface as under the softer conditions in each of his wins to date including the Hawke’s Bay Guineas, have been posted. Hayter, who said the horse loves travelling, working and racing, is confident it will not make a great deal of difference.

Cassidy is not quite so sure, but it is a question not likely to be answered until the Two Thousand Guineas when Finnegan Fox clashes with Eurostar and Just A Dancer, the leading northern colts.