TEST FOR JUVENILES

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 62, 15 March 1933, Page 6

TEST FOR JUVENILES

CHAMPION PLATE FIELD

PREFERENCE FOR DOLE

One of the most interesting items on the opening day of the Wellington Meeting on Friday will be the Champion Two-year-old Plate, in which a dozen of the speediest juveniles in training in the Dominion this season will measure strides for tentative supremacy. The race may not finally allocate the season's two-year-old honours, but the result will certainly point to what youngster is likely to be rated- best when the full term's .racing is completed. , It is certain to he a wonderful betting contest, for two-thjrda of the field will have ardent supporters. The juvenile form so far has been very mixed, and such a race as this is needed to clear up the situation;' " ■ ■ ■-'■•■■'' .-■-... The three favourites look like being Princess Doreen,; Dole, and Red Manfred, the first of whom has the full 71b penalty and the other two 51b penalties. Diatomous, Guarantee, Fracas, and Golden Hair may not be very much v less supr ported. • • : ■ . TRENTHAM-TRAINED DOLE. Trentham-trained Dqle ,is going to be one of the hardest of them to dispose of, and in the great form, .in which he is at present he looks almost a certainty, for a place at least. Still the Trentham track i 9 a treacherous testing ground, and the number of favourites. that have failed on this terrain is legion. Dole is undoubtedly, one of the speediestyoungsterß that. have ■ stepped out this term. He may yet prove speediest of them all. From a yearling who was so lightly regarded by his; owner that he could have been bought for a "tenner" he has developed into a colt of superlatively racy appearance. He is every, inch a racehorse now. . Of a pleasing deep rich brown, almost a black, he is sure to appeal to those who back by looks. He is not exceptionally big, but he is solidly and speedily moulded. He is as fit as hands can make him, and he is a better horse now than lie was in January. Some Question his: ability to stay, but those who have watched him work have little fear on thia point. The youngster who is to beat him on Friday must be good above any average year. Princess Doreen, in spite of her full penalty, will have an army of friends too. She is. the leading winner this season, with successes in the Avondale Stakes, A.R.C. Welcome Stakes (dead-heat with Diatomous), and GJN. Foal Stakes included among her victories. She is possessed of full brilliance, but she will have to be exceptionally good to succeed here, for in spite of the full penalty she gains no sex allowance under the conditions of the race. Then there is Red. Manfred, a stylish colt who may go on to big things in his future career. He' just misses '. the full penalty.by a:.matter of £15 short of the £700 winning mark. His successes include the. Wellesley and C.J.C. Welcome. He failed' on the right-handed Ellerslie track, but came, on to win a handicap at Trentham again in January. His strength is his finishing burst of speed; and this has been best manifest at Tre"ntham. An interesting >idelig"ht of Friday's race .will be Red Manfred's meeting with Dole, whom, at. 61b' concession, he beat in January. Perhapßon this occasion Dole will take full vengeance for that defeat. ■■_- DIATOMOUS'S PROSPECTS: piatomo-us : looks, possibly ' the : likeliest1 of the! others;;' JNqjphp who has seen him ,race could-have much doubt' about vhis brilliance.' .It has-been .said- by some critics', that 'he lacks grit,' but when- his performances! are reviewed, and full allowance made for the weights he has carried, it must be granted that this is hardly a fair deduction. He has shown real gameness on most occasions, doing his job on his own without any unnecessary urgirig from his riders. It is probably more his overkeenness in his races that has finally brought 'about his occasional downfall than any lack of determination A horse, like a man, cannot hope to see a severe task through when he has not learnt to temper his keenness with early restraint. / Fracas, and Golden Hair, the other three mentioned have all been good winners this season, and one thing that is certain about them is that they are not far short of being top class. Still, on what has been seen of them, they have not quite impressed as being in the same ranking as the four horses previously referred to. Any of them may win the Plate, but if one does it will possibly be on account of mistakes made by the others rather than because of inherent superiority. The one among them who may have improved sufficiently^ to be rated, as or .with the best of the season is Golden Hair, whose career to' date has been one of continued and steady advancement, _ every race she has run having been better than her previous race.