RACING NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 14

RACING NEWS

(BY "RAI

TYPE FOR RAILWAY

BRILLIANCE AND COURAGE

WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS

Although there are three more meetings on Saturday to lead up to the more important holiday fixtures, the visions of most racing men are at present focused past the immediate to the wider fields beyond, and the inquiry that is being encountered at every turn is "What is going to win the Auckland Cup?" or "What do you like for the Railway?" These are two big questions indeed, and they are rather of the as-inany-men-as-many-views variety. Perhaps the more difficult problem is that offered by the Railway, and it may be worth Svhile here to consider what is the type of horse likely to be best suited to this race. The Railway has always been recognised as a very hard race to win, but one factor that has become generally recognised ns a sine qua non to success is extreme brilliance, either all the way or from a good position at the end of the contest. The better type of horse, judged through the records of recent years, is the one who can take lip a handy early position and come on at the finish, and such a horse has been successful for the last four years. The horse who can go all the way, however, is also a good Ellerslie prospect, if he is not forced into a wild game of early cut-throat and so compelled .to run himself to a standstill. Compared with these two types of sprinters is the one who comes home from the back with a great late burst. This type seldom succeeds on the swinging Ellerslie six, although at Riccarton and Trentham such a horse will win as often as his more brilliant all-the-way compeers. Cimabue and Cadland are two Stewards' winners from the rear who have failed to get to the front in time in the Ellerslie sprint. The last four winners of the Railway, harking back through the record, have been The Quorn, Supremacy, and Hunting Cry twice. One might describe their performance in very similar general fashion. Each settled down five or six horses back and were there at the straight entrance, but over the last furlong and a half finished too solidly for the leaders. In other words they were the type that could take up a handy position early and then come on at "the close. Five years ago, immediately preceding Hunting Cry's first success, Nancy Lee won the race as one of the leaders throughout, and the year previous Awarere was responsible for a similar performance. In Nancy Lee's year this mare, Silvermine, and Bright Glow, the first three horses home,' were, with Staghunter, the leaders all the way, and Nancy Lee, with more than a. stone advantage in the weights, hung on longer than the Stewards' winner. Seven years ago and the year prior to Awarere, High Pitch was successful from fourth or fifth place in the running, in just the same way 'as the winners during the last four years have been. The year! previous to that (i.e., in 1926) the race was divided, and Reremoana and Lady Cavendish, who won the respective heats for the same owner (Mr. G. F. Moore),1 both unfurled barrier-to-post brilliance, Reremoana taking over the lead before reaching' the straight from one or two horses who had set far too torrid a pace for themselves, and Lady Cavendish being always second or first in the running and the leader also before reaching the straight. Against these efforts may be ranged the fata! over-eagerness of some of the runners during the last two years. In Supremacy's year Golden Wings. Karapoti, and Tea Chat, three very brilliant gallopers, completely ruined each other's chances by their cut-throat tactics at a hectic pace out in. front, and last year Tea Trader and Exaggeration also beat themselves in this way, though the former was still able to hold on for second money. Such a search back through the record of recent years should assist materially in disclosing the type of horse that is most likely to succeed in the Auckland Railway, and when one is assessing the prospects of any particular horse one might do worse thnn submit such horse to the test so indicated. There would then seem to be certain horses in this year's field who cannot have much chance because of inability tn begin fast enough for Ellerslie conditions, and there are others who appear to lack the necessary final fighting qualities. Bambury, Croupier, Gay Sheila; Exaggeration. Puss Moth, and Silver Streak are among the probable starters in this I year's field who in the past have revealed early brilliance of the style required, and Autopay, when he begins right, also possesses it, so that, on the rule of type, here is possibly the group that, after the race is all over, will be found to have contained the name of the winner.

NOTES AND COMMENTS