NOT YET TOP-NOTCHERS

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 16, 19 July 1932, Page 4

NOT YET TOP-NOTCHERS

Two :ji6rses,, whom; the recent Wellington MeeH^^9syjed;;werei:snot:,up to the high .opinion?formed "by:-the"' .'handicapper |about.theJrKppt^>tial ability^ were the Gisbofne pairVTii^piandiJega'phone. Both ran 'ffisapgointingj;.races,:;apd >are due to be slipped/down in ;the.weiehts next time they are^Bandicapped in ith> {'best class. - Prior' t<> 'the meeting;the .view wasiadr vanced ,that;:.Tai.;rAo<wquld have' to bo 1 somewhat bgtteri than iEwas. believed lie I was to vwfnvunder the v: (w.eight. he was allotted. He-Went; twol fair races, but was never in'a winning position on either occasion. Mr. Coyle dared take i>o chance with him, and rightly weighted him after what he had done in moderate company, but now that he has been tested and failed his future handicaps should be set at a lower level than they were at Trentham.

It was also believed that Megaphone had not earned the 0.8 he was given on the first day, and he proved quite incapable of mastering the weight. On the second day, dropped 31b, he did even tnore poorly than he had on the first day, for, whereas at his earlier start he had raced prominently to the straight, at his; second start he viewed the heels of the .field all the way. He is a good horse doubtless, but at present he is not a top; ,notoher. He is booked for a trip to Aus-' tralia, but he should not be a good proposition there unless Australian handicappers see him in his proper light, that of an ordinary moderate still to climb the lowest rungs of fame's ladder.